LADY  ELEANOR: 


ROBERT    BAR 


WOX.  DE  C&US,  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


LADY  ELEANOR 


LADY  ELEANOR: 
LAWBREAKER 


By 
ROBERT  BARR 

Author  of  Countess  Tekla,  In  the  Midst  of  Alarms, 
A  Woman  Intervenes,  The  Sword  Makers,  etc. 


r/  7//J 


RAND  McNALLY  &  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1911,  by  Robert  Ban- 


LADY    ELEANOR: 
LAWBREAKER 


CHAPTER  I 

A  LTHOUGH  it  was  considerably  after 
*^>  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  dingy 
stuff  curtains  still  shut  out  the  daylight 
from  the  office  of  Sharp  &  Clipper,  solici- 
tors, of  Lincoln's  Inn.  At  best  it  was  a 
darkish  room,  with  massive,  somber  fur- 
nishing, but  its  present  gloom  in  no  way 
affected  the  spirits  of  the  two  persons 
conversing  therein.  Humble  Sycamore, 
though  seated  at  his  desk,  was  paying  scant 
attention  to  clerkly  duties.  Leaning  for- 
ward, and  occasionally  emphasizing  the 

5 


2125551 


6          LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

point  of  his  remarks  with  a  quill  pen,  he  was 
giving  a  vivid  and  animated  account  of  his 
previous  evening's  visit  to  the  playhouse, 
which,  in  those  days  of  1776,  was  an 
adventure  of  magnitude.  Trisket,  the  page 
boy,  listened  spellbound,  as  one  who  hears 
of  brilliant  and  intrepid  exploration  in  an 
unknown  country. 

"And  did  un  fight,  Mr.  Sycamore?"  he 
prompted,  breathlessly,  as  the  clerk  paused, 
to  give  better  effect  to  a  telling  point. 

"Fight?  Nay,  that  he  did  n't,  for  a  more 
arrant  knave  ne'er  stood  in  honest  shoe 
leather.  But  'twas  a  sight  to  see  him 
shaking  with  cowardice  the  while  he  blus- 
tered— his  wig  awry,  and  a  great  pistol  in 
either  hand.  'Bob  Acres'  they  called  him, 
and,  faith !  he  was  an  'acher'  to  me  in  honest 
truth,  for  I  nigh  cracked  my  sides  with 
laughter  at  him.  If  you  have  ne'er  seen  a 
play,  Trisket—" 

"Nay,  sir,  I  never  have." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER          7 

"Then  save  your  ha'pence  and  see  that 
one  to  begin  on.  'T  is  called  'The  Rivals,' 
and  well  't  is  named,  for  it  can  rival  aught 
I  've  ever  seen;  though  I  'm  told  it  was  a 
failure  when  they  tried  it  first,  last  year. 
'The  Rivals'  is  the  name:  Dick  Sheridan 
wrote  it." 

"'Dick'  Sheridan!  'Dictf!  You  know 
him,  then?"  questioned  Trisket,  in  awe- 
struck tones. 

"Not  I,  forsooth,"  disclaimed  Sycamore, 
disdainfully.  "But  one  calls  these  player 
fellows  'Dick'  or  'Ben'  or  'Davy,'  as  't  were 
any  other  vagabond  one  spoke  of.  Know 
him,  indeed!  I  ne'er  heard  of  the  knave 
until  last  night,  and  would  not  have  heard 
of  him  even  then  but  that  I  went  to  Covent 
Garden  to  bear  a  message  to  the  new  Lord 
Brandon,  and  found  his  lordship  hobnobbing 
with  the  rogue  as  though  it  were  an  equal 
he  clinked  glasses  with.  'T  was  'Dick'  here, 
and  'dear  Dick'  there,  and  'bonny  Dick' 


8          LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

between  the  whiles,  till  one's  gorge  rose  at 
the  very  sound  of  it.  And  all  the  time  the 
fellow  standing  there,  tricked  out  in  silk  and 
velvet,  as  though  't  were  any  gentleman,  and 
as  familiar  with  his  lordship  as  if  the  old 
Lord  Brandon  were  not  ten  feet  under- 
ground, and  the  new  one  were  still  the  play- 
going  vagabond  he  had  been  when  his  father 
was  alive. 

"  'I  '11  make  your  fortune,  Dick,'  quoth 
he,  laying  his  arm  across  the  fellow's  shoul- 
ders, 'I  '11  give  your  name  to  all  the  corners 
of  the  earth,  and  we  '11  out-Garrick  Garrick 
in  his  own  field.' 

"And  then,  ignoring  me,  they  fell  to 
talking  of  some  'School  for  Scandal'  that 
the  fellow  had  in  mind — as  though  a  school 
for  that  were  needed,  and  it  were  a  goodly 
thing  to  build !  And  if  it  were,  should  not 
players  be  the  last  to  sanction  it?  Should 
not—" 

The  rising  excitement  in  Sycamore's  tones 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER  9 

was  abruptly  hushed.  Outside,  a  vcice 
uttered  a  curt  command. 

"Yes,  yes;  that  will  do.  Come  for  me  at 
dusk." 

"The  master!"  cried  Trisket  softly, 
springing  up  from  his  stool  and  carrying  it 
with  him  to  the  window  recess,  where  he 
placed  it.  Hastily  he  drew  back  the  cur- 
tains, exposing  a  view  of  old  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields,  and  the  passing  figures  of  two 
servants  bearing  Mr.  Sharp's  empty  sedan 
chair. 

Sycamore  jumped  from  his  desk,  and, 
bustling  about,  made  a  great  show  of  get- 
ting the  place  in  order,  at  the  same  time 
berating  the  boy  as  though  he  were  solely  to 
blame  for  the  office  not  being  open. 

"Sluggard  and  idler!"  he  was  declaiming 
loudly,  as  Humphrey  Sharp  entered,  slowly 
removing  his  gloves.  "Nigh  to  eleven,  and 
not  a  curtain  drawn  yet!  A  lazy,  idle, 
dawdling  sloth!  And  with  such  a  gentle, 


10        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

kindly  master !  You  '11  end  in  the  work- 
house, ingrate!" 

"Sycamore!" 

The  master's  tone  was  keen,  and  betrayed 
annoyance.  His  clerk  turned  in  seeming 
amazement. 

"Eh?    Mr.  Sharp!    Oh,  sir,  is  it  you?" 

"Aye.  You  are  late  this  morning,  Syca- 
more," said  Mr.  Sharp,  coldly.  "It  has 
gone  eleven,  and  the  curtains  but  this 
moment  drawn.  Boy!" 

Meekly  Trisket  came  forward  to  receive 
the  lawyer's  hat,  gloves,  and  gold-knobbed 
cane.  Having  hung  up  the  hat,  and  placed 
near  it  the  other  articles,  he  vanished  dis- 
creetly to  the  small  outer  room. 

"It  was  Trisket's  fault,  sir,"  protested 
Humble  Sycamore.  "I  bade  him  be  here 
early,  as  the  errand  you  sent  me  on  last  night 
would  keep  me  up  late,  and  prevent  early 
rising.  But  the  untrustworthy  ingrate  must 
needs  go  to  the  playhouse,  and  oversleep 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         11 

himself  this  morning.  You  must  have  heard 
me  scolding  him  when  you  entered.  A 
graceless,  idle,  playgoing  imp !  I  found  him 
sleeping  when  I  came." 

"Better  have  slept  for  weeks  than  enter  a 
playhouse  once,"  said  Mr.  Sharp  somewhat 
wearily.  "Heaven  knows  we  've  had  enough 
and  to  spare  of  player-folk  on  our  minds  of 
late,  Sycamore." 

"Aye,  enough  and  to  spare,  sir,  as  you 
say." 

The  lawyer  went  to  his  desk  and,  seating 
himself  before  it,  began  methodically  to 
arrange  the  accumulation  of  papers  thereon. 
Presently  he  glanced  across  at  Sycamore. 

"You  carried  my  two  messages  yester- 
day?" he  asked.  "The  one  to  the  Lady 
Eleanor  Beaumont,  the  other  to — "  he  hesi- 
tated, sighing  a  little,  "to  the  new  Lord 
Brandon?" 

"I  did,  sir." 

"And  both  will  be  here  this  morning?" 


12        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Both,  sir.  Lady  Eleanor  bade  me  say 
she  'd  come  as  near  eleven  as  possible.  She 
longs  to  see  this  fortunate  cousin,  on  whom 
she  has  not  set  eyes  since  she  was  a  child." 

"Fortunate?  Yes,  he  is  fortunate.  It  is 
not  given  every  man  to  win  disinheritance 
as  he  won  it,  to  flout  a  good  and  godly  father 
by  associating  with  vile  player-folk,  and 
then,  after  adding  to  his  disgrace  by  becom- 
ing one  of  them — painting  his  face,  and 
strutting  in  tinsled  finery  for  pay — to  come 
into  his  own  at  last.  Sycamore,  I  am  sure 
the  late  Lord  Brandon  never  destroyed  that 
will.  He  was  at  such  pains  to  have  me  draw 
it  up  for  him,  and  to  make  it  clear  that  not 
one  guinea  of  his  money,  not  one  foot  of  his 
land,  should  go  to  this  dissipated  mummer 
who  had  defied  and  disgraced  him.  All  was 
for  his  sister's  child,  the  Lady  Eleanor 
Beaumont,  and,  in  his  wrath,  he  made  me 
draw  a  will  that  left  no  weak  spot  for  his  son 
to  break.  He  never  forgave  that  son,  never 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         13 

looked  on  him,  nor  allowed  his  name  to  be 
mentioned,  to  the  hour  of  his  death.  Why, 
then,  should  he  have  destroyed  that  will — if 
he  did  destroy  it?" 

"Lady  Eleanor  thinks  that  he  must  have 
done  so,  sir." 

"Lady  Eleanor!  Yes,  but —  Ah,  well! 
Get  me  the  Brandon  deed-box.  In  this 
defective  world,  Sycamore,  there  would  be 
nothing  astonishing  in  the  disappearance  of 
that  will  were  it  not  that  it  left  everything, 
without  reserve,  to  Lady  Eleanor  Beaumont 
herself.  A  girl  of  her  high  ideals  and  pride 
of  race,  a  girl  who  has  often  declared  herself 
an  usurper,  and  called  it  'cruel  her  cousin 
might  not  have  his  own' — " 

Humble  Sycamore  paused  in  amazement 
on  the  steps  he  had  mounted  to  secure  the 
box  bearing  the  white-lettered  name  "Bran- 
don," and  looked  round  at  his  employer. 

"My  faith !  You  cannot  think  that  she — 
La,  sir,  no  woman  in  her  senses  would  plan 


14        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

to  rob   herself  of  two   hundred   thousand 
pounds.    It 's  not  in  nature,  sir." 

"Considering  the  woman,"  said  Mr. 
Sharp,  thoughtfully,  "it 's  not  out  of  it,  I  '11 
be  sworn."  He  was  silent  long  enough  to 
open  the  deed-box  Sycamore  had  placed 
before  him,  and  to  withdraw  from  it  several 
bundles  of  documents  and  one  loose  parch- 
ment, then  he  continued:  "The  will  was 
made  and  witnessed  in  my  presence  at 
Brandon  Hall.  With  my  own  eyes  I  saw 
Lord  Brandon  place  it  in  his  cabinet,  and 
Lady  Eleanor  saw  it,  too.  I  have  here,"  he 
picked  up  the  sheet  of  parchment,  "the  first 
rough  draft  of  the  instrument  as  dictated 
by  my  lord  himself,  and  practically  un- 
changed in  the  legal  document.  Only  three 
persons  in  the  world  knew  where  that  docu- 
ment was  deposited:  Lord  Brandon,  Lady 
Eleanor,  and  myself.  Lord  Brandon  could 
not  have  removed  it ;  I  did  not.  Thus  there 
remains  but  one  conclusion — a  conclusion 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        15 

which  is  not  weakened  by  the  fact  that  Lady 
Eleanor  accepts  its  disappearance  as  a  sign 
that  it  no  longer  exists,  and  strongly  opposes 
any  search  being  made  for  it." 

"But,  God  bless  us,  it 's  absurd,  sir  I  To 
suspect  a  lady  of  cheating  herself  out  of  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds — cheating  her- 
self! My  faith,  such  an  accusation  would 
not  stand  in  law  for  the  time  it  would  take 
to  make  it." 

"No,  it  would  not,"  agreed  the  lawyer  de- 
cisively. "So  the  question  confronting  us 
is:  What  are  Sharp  &  Clipper  to  do?" 

"That 's  the  question,  sir." 

"We  cannot  accuse  the  young  lady  of  de- 
stroying a  testament  which  put  her  in  pos- 
session of  a  large  fortune,  so  our  safest 
plan—" 

"Our  safest  plan,  sir,  would  be  to  do  noth- 
ing." 

"Exactly  so,  Sycamore.  My  opinion  is 
entirely  in  accordance  with  yours.  Our 


16        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

situation  in  regard  to  the  Brandon  inherit- 
ance is  a  most  unusual  one." 

"Most  unusual,  sir.     I — " 

There  came  a  knock  at  the  door,  and  he 
left  his  sentence  unfinished.  "Come  in!"  he 
said,  instead,  and  Trisket  entered. 

"Lady  Eleanor  Beaumont,  sir,  and  Miss 
Selina  Chaffers,"  he  announced. 

"Show  them  in,"  directed  Sharp,  consult- 
ing his  watch.  "Late,  of  course.  Punctu- 
ality may  be  the  politeness  of  kings,  Syca- 
more, but  it  is  not  an  attribute  of  woman." 

He  rose,  bowing  with  courteous  dignity 
as  there  entered  a  very  beautiful  girl, 
dressed  in  deep  mourning,  followed  by  her 
maid  and  Miss  Chaffers,  a  lady  of  uncer- 
tain age,  whose  elaborate  attire  would  have 
been  better  suited  to  a  girl  of  eighteen.  The 
clerk  hastened  to  place  near  Mr.  Sharp's 
desk  a  comfortable  chair  for  Lady  Eleanor; 
for  her  companion  he  arranged  a  seat  more 
in  the  background,  smiling  ingratiatingly 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         17 

at  her  as  he  did  so.  Toward  the  younger 
lady  his  manner  expressed  the  humblest  def- 
erence; with  the  elder,  his  deference  was 
tempered  by  an  obvious  desire  to  flatter  and 
please,  an  attitude,  however,  that  escaped 
the  notice  of  any  one  but  the  lady  herself, 
who  accepted  the  attentions  graciously. 
Meanwhile  Lady  Eleanor  apologized  to  the 
solicitor  for  her  tardy  arrival. 

"I  am  afraid,"  she  began,  "that  we  are 
late — eleven  was  the  hour  your  clerk  men- 
tioned— but  my  aunt  and  I  are  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  streets  of  London,  and  we  lost 
our  way." 

"Indeed,  my  lady,  you  are  just  in  time. 
We  were  but  this  moment  discussing  the 
case.  May  I  beg  you  to  be  seated?"  As 
the  girl  took  the  chair  Sycamore  had  placed 
for  her,  Mr.  Sharp  continued,  somewhat 
gravely:  "May  I  ask,  Lady  Eleanor, 
whether  the  will  has  yet  been  found?" 

"No,  Mr.  Sharp,  it  has  not  been  found." 


18        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"The  search  has  been  abandoned?" 
"So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  it  has,"  re- 
sponded the  girl,  with  a  slight  gesture  of 
impatience.  "But  why  speak  of  these 
things?  Surely  heaven  is  a  better  judge 
than  we  of  how  the  matters  of  earth  should 
be  ordained;  if  it  were  not  heaven's  inten- 
tion, the  document  had  not  been  destroyed." 
"You  are  convinced  it  is  destroyed?" 
"How  should  I  know,  more  than  you? 
Its  disappearance  would  argue  its  destruc- 
tion. Perhaps — who  can  tell — my  uncle 
may  have  realized  how  grave  was  the  injus- 
tice of  the  deed  which  took  from  a  Brandon 
all  a  Brandon  holds  dear — his  home,  the 
cradle  of  his  race,  the  pillar  of  his  strength — 
and  gave  them  to  an  unworthy  girl." 

"Not  unworthy,  Lady  Eleanor.  You 
malign  yourself." 

"All  are  unworthy  to  hold  a  Brandon's 
heritage  who  are  not  Brandons  born,"  de- 
clared Lady  Eleanor  warmly.  "What 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         19 

heaven  gave  my  cousin  by  right  of  birth, 
his  father  was  not  justified  in  taking  away 
from  him,  still  less  in  giving  it  to  me,  an 
alien." 

Mr.  Sharp  regarded  her  with  a  penetrat- 
ing expression. 

"If  I  might  quote,"  he  said,  "from  that 
half -god,  half -knave  who  cast  his  pearls  to 
playhouse  swine,  I  'd  say  'Methinks  the  lady 
doth  protest  too  much.'  You  are  the  child 
of  his  late  lordship's  sister,  and  therefore  not 
an  alien.  Have  you  seen  your  cousin, 
Charles  Brandon,  lately?" 

"Not  since  we  were  boy  and  girl  to- 
gether." 

"You  have  not  been  to  the  theater,  where, 
I  am  told,  he  struts  the  boards  with  shame- 
less effrontery,  and  plays  the  lover  to  women 
as  wanton  as  himself?" 

"Heaven  forbid!"  cried  Lady  Eleanor, 
with  a  little  shiver  of  distaste.  "I  would  as 
soon  defile  my  mother's  grave  as  cross  the 


20        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

threshold  of  a  playhouse  door!  No,  no! 
My  knowledge  of  my  cousin  is  a  memory 
only — a  sweet  and  tender  memory."  She 
smiled,  as  if  at  a  pleasant  reminiscence. 
"Then  he  was  heir  to  Brandon  Hall:  a  tall, 
brave  youth,  wanting  but  seven  years  to 
make  a  man  of  him,  and  I  a  child  of  ten. 
My  mother  had  taken  me  with  her  for  a  visit 
to  the  Hall,  and  I — dear  heaven,  what  a 
happy  time  it  was !  My  cousin  bore  himself 
toward  me  as  though  I  were  a  princess,  not 
a  beggar,  and  he  the  most  devoted  of  cour- 
tiers. Not  a  day  but  had  some  special  glory 
in  it;  not  a  night  without  its  happy  dreams. 
We  walked  and  rode,  he  and  I,  through  the 
long  leafy  lanes,  and  in  the  green  dusk  of 
bird-enchanted  woods;  we  sang,  we  romped, 
we  gathered  flowers,  and  once  when  I  fell 
and  bruised  my  forehead  on  the  earth,  he — 
he  took  my  face  between  his  palms,  and 
kissed  me.  Oh,  I  remember  it  all  as  if  it  were 
yesterday!" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        21 

"So  it  would  seem,"  commented  Mr. 
Sharp,  dryly.  "Then,  in  defiance  of  your 
uncle's  wishes,  it  is  your  desire  that  this 
profligate,  this  mummer,  this  consort  of 
vagabonds  and  rogues,  should  come  into  the 
birthright  he  resigned  to  cast  his  lot  with 
actors?" 

The  girl's  eyes  shone  with  great  serious- 
ness of  purpose. 

"Yes,  oh,  yes,"  she  responded.  "It  is 
heaven's  pleasure  as  well  as  mine,  else  it 
had  not  come  to  pass.  Brandon  Hall  must 
have  a  Brandon  for  its  master.  We  shall 
see  the  glory  of  the  house  restored.  Charles 
will  leave  the  players  and  their  haunts,  and 
return  to  his  own  again.  Thus  errors  of  the 
past  will  be  atoned  for!" 

"Ah — you  think  that  probable,  Lady 
Eleanor?"  asked  the  old  man,  quietly. 

"I  am  certain  of  it,  Mr.  Sharp,"  came  the 
answer,  ringing  with  supreme  confidence. 
"When  Charles  alone  represents  the  race, 


22        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

he  '11  rise ;  he  is  a  Brandon ;  so  have  no 
fear." 

Seemingly  her  belief  brought  little  con- 
viction to  the  solicitor. 

"Heaven  knows  I  trust  so,"  he  said,  "if 
— if  only  to  justify  your  faith  in  him.  To 
understand  that  his  father  knew  his  charac- 
ter, glance  over  this  document."  He  handed 
her  a  parchment.  "  'T  is  a  rough  draft,  almost 
word  for  word,  of  the  missing  will,  the  testa- 
ment actually  signed.  Read  it,  my  lady,  as 
though  it  were  the  dead  that  spoke  to  you, 
and  tell  me  if  you  think  it  just  such  wishes 
should  be  disregarded." 

Somewhat  confused,  Lady  Eleanor  ac- 
cepted and  opened  the  document;  she  bent 
her  head  over  it,  reading.  Mr.  Sharp  sat 
leaning  forward,  his  elbows  upon  his  desk, 
watching  her  intently.  In  their  secluded 
corner,  Sycamore  and  Miss  Chaffers  con- 
versed in  undertones,  unheeded  by  the 
others. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        23 

"The  loss  of  the  will  matters  not  to  you, 
Miss  Chaffers?  You  have  still  those  three 
hundred  pounds  a  year,  dear  one?" 

She  nodded  assent. 

"La,  Mr.  Sycamore!  Be  careful,  do; 
they  '11  hear  you,"  she  cautioned,  giggling. 
"How  long  since  you  called  at  Brandon 
Hall!" 

A  slight  constraint  that  had  been  per- 
ceptible in  the  clerk's  manner  vanished 
completely  at  the  reassuring  news  about 
Miss  Chaffers'  income. 

"I  '11  call  to-morrow,  and  the  next  day! 
I  '11  call  whensoe'er  I  may — Selina!"  he 
declared,  ardently. 

"La,  how  awful!"  simpered  the  lady, 
coquettishly.  "I  mean — oh,  you  naughty 
men!  A  girl  scarce  knows  what  to  do  to 
escape  you!" 

The  bobbing  feathers  in  her  turban  sadly 
interfered  with  Sycamore's  attempts  to  bend 
gallantly  over  Miss  Chaffers,  and  his  efforts 


24        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

to  blow  them  aside  distinctly  marred  the 
effect  of  his  reply. 

"Then  don't  (puff),  don't  try  (puff), 
my  (puff)  own!"  he  whispered. 

"La,  Mr.  Sycamore,  aren't  you  well?" 
demanded  Miss  Chaffers,  unaware  of  the 
cause  of  his  embarrassment,  but  as  she 
raised  her  face  to  look  at  him  the  irritating 
decoration  was  removed. 

"As  well  as  I  ever  shall  be,  dear  one,"  he 
murmured  eloquently,  "until  that  purse — I 
mean,  that  heart — is  wholly  mine,  my  soul's 
own — " 

At  this  point  Mr.  Sharp,  in  the  silence 
becoming  aware  of  their  conversation,  inter- 
vened with  a  gruff: 

"Sycamore!" 

The  clerk  straightened  up  instantly. 
"Sir?" 

"Business!"  reminded  Mr.  Sharp,  curtly, 
and  Sycamore  reluctantly  returned  to  his 
desk,  secretly  blowing  a  kiss  to  Selina  from 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER    25 

behind  his  employer's  chair,  whereupon  Miss 
Chaffers  giggled  girlishly,  hiding  her  face 
behind  her  fan. 

Mr.  Sharp  again  turned  his  attention  to 
Lady  Eleanor,  who,  having  finished  her 
perusal  of  the  document,  handed  it  back 
without  a  word.  The  lawyer  did  not  speak 
at  once,  divining  her  agitation. 

"Well?"  he  asked,  presently. 

For  a  moment  the  distressed  girl  covered 
her  face  with  both  hands. 

"It  is  cruel,  it  is  unjust!"  she  exclaimed, 
looking  up  again.  "I  thank  heaven  it  was 
destroyed." 

"Ah,  it  was  destroyed,  then?"  persisted 
Mr.  Sharp.  "You  are  sure  there  is  no 
chance  of  its  ever  turning  up  ?" 

"No,  no!  There  is  never  any  chance  of 
that,  never  any  chance.  Oh,  my  poor  cousin, 
what  an  ungenerous,  unjust  act  it  was !" 

Outside  in  the  street  a  sudden  uproar  rose, 
the  sound  of  an  excited  crowd  approaching, 


26        LADY -ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

but  neither  Mr.  Sharp  nor  the  Lady  Eleanor 
paid  the  slightest  heed. 

"Is  that  your  final  decision,  Lady  El- 
eanor?" questioned -the  old  man,  gently,  but 
very  earnestly.  "For  the  last  time  I  ask 
you,  is  there  no  likelihood  of  the  late  Lord 
Brandon's  will  ever  being  carried  into  ex- 
ecution?" 

"None;  if  my  prayers  are  answered,"  re- 
plied the  girl,  her  manner  as  serious  as  his 
own. 

Then  she  added,  more  vehemently,  "Let 
the  follies  of  the  dead  rest  with  the  dead; 
I  '11  stake  my  honor  by  the  living!" 

"A  goodly  stake,  indeed!"  cried  a  laugh- 
ing voice,  "but  may  it  prove  no  such  pest 
of  the  'living'  as  falls  to  me." 

The  lawyer  sprang  to  his  feet  in  amaze- 
ment, staring  indignantly  at  the  intruder,  a 
finely  set-up  young  man  who  stood  leaning 
against  the  door  he  had  opened.  Lady 
Eleanor  half  rose,  but  as  she  looked  on  the 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        27 

handsome,  merry  face,  she  sank  back  into 
her  chair  again,  her  face  growing  very  white. 

"Charles!  Charles  Brandon,  at  last!"  she 
whispered  to  herself. 

The  youth  had  turned  his  gaze  to  the 
outer  room  through  which  he  had  entered, 
and  now  addressed  himself  to  some  one 
there. 

"Come  in,  Dick,  prince  of  wits  and  king 
of  noble  runners!"  he  urged.  "Faith,  we 
have  given  the  rogues  the  slip,  and  are  rid 
of  them  at  last." 

"Aye,  if  they  do  not  spot  where  we  dodged 
in,"  cried  the  newcomer,  accepting  the  invi- 
tation to  enter.  "Imperious  Kit  has  set  her 
heart  on  doing  honor  to  your  fortune 
whether  you  will  or  no,  and  Kitty  Clive  's 
not  one  to  be  lightly  eluded.  Egad !  She  '11 
have  London  scoured  until  she  finds  you, 
man,  and  there  's  half  Drurv's  'stock'  in  her 
wake." 

"Her  'wake,'  say  you,  Dick?    Faith,  there 


28        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

are  seven  days  to  every  'wake'  in  Kitty 
dive's  vocabulary,  so  perchance  we  may 
escape  her." 

He  turned,  and  bowed  extravagantly  to 
all  present,  doffing  his  hat  with  a  sweeping 
gesture  that  took  in  the  whole  company. 

"My  lords  and  ladies  all,  we  give  you 
grace,"  he  greeted  them  gallantly.  Then 
his  glance  fell  on  Lady  Eleanor,  and  to  her 
he  bowed  again,  even  more  deferentially. 
"'Sweets  to  the  sweet,'  oh,  fair  Ophelia! 
Dick,  bow,  you  knave!  A  lovelier  face  the 
sun  ne'er  shone  on." 

With  another  quick  change  he  addressed 
himself  to  the  bewildered  solicitor. 

"Pardon  the  interruption,  but  is  this 
Sharp  &  Clipper  I  see  before  me?" 

"I  am  Humphrey  Sharp.  Clipper  is  not 
here.  This  is  merely  my  assistant.  And 
may  I  ask  who  you  are,  sir,  and  why  you 
come  dashing  into  my  office  thus?" 

"Egad,  you  may  do  both.    To  begin  with, 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        29 

we  'dashed  in,'  as  you  express  it,  to  escape 
a  plague  of  friends  who  insisted  upon  fol- 
lowing, and  who  made  a  spectacle  of  us 
rushing  through  the  street  when  we  cut  off 
and  ran  like  madmen  to  escape  them."  He 
laughed  again.  "Faith,  Dick,  Kit  in  her 
chair  urging  her  men  to  run  with  her,  when 
we  broke  free  and  took  to  our  heels,  is  a 
sight  that  will  last  in  my  mind  forever!" 
Once  more  he  spoke  to  the  man  of  law. 
"So  much  for  how  and  why  I  came  'dashing 
in/  my  friend.  For  who  I  am:  Charles 
Brandon,  at  your  service ;  lord,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  and  heir  to  Brandon  Hall!" 

To  Lady  Eleanor  and  Humble  Sycamore 
the  announcement  conveyed  no  news,  but 
Mr.  Sharp  was  obviously  aghast. 

"Charles  Brandon!  Sir — my  lord — "  he 
stammered,  incredulously. 

"Truth,  yes.  But,  sir,  the  title  may  go 
hang  for  all  of  me.  As  for  the  property, 
that 's  a  different  matter,  eh,  Dick?  There 


30        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

you  touch  a  yearning  heart  and  an  empty 
pocket." 

Inclining  his  head,  he  placed  a  hand  over 
his  heart,  then  indicated  his  hip  pocket,  but 
Mr.  Sharp  paid  no  heed  to  his  gestures. 
His  attention  was  concentrated  on  Lady 
Eleanor  Beaumont. 

"My  lady,  is  this  the  cousin  you  have 
wished  to  meet?"  he  questioned,  sadly. 

Brandon  swept  round,  and  once  more 
doffed  his  hat  with  a  brave  flourish. 

"What,  is  this  my  little  cousin,  the  Lady 
Amelia?" 

Eleanor  frustrated  his  attempt  to  take 
her  hands,  drawing  back  with  an  air  of  hau- 
teur that  should  have  discouraged  his  effu- 
siveness, yet  failed  to  abash  him. 

"My — my  name  is  Eleanor,  sir,"  she  said, 
coldly. 

"Why,  so  it  is!"  ejaculated  Brandon, 
airily.  "Dolt  that  I  am!  Nelly,  I  used  to 
call  you,  eh?  And  where  are  the  flowing 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        31 

locks  I  used  to  pull  while  you  quite  justly 
beat  me  for  my  rudeness?"  Despite  her 
reluctance,  he  grasped  her  hands,  pulling 
her  this  way  and  that,  the  better  to  admire 
her,  laughing  appreciatively  as  he  did  so. 
"Little  Nell !  Bonny  coz !  How  tall*you  Ve 
grown,  and — my  guiding  star — what  a 
beauty!  My  Nelly  shall  set  the  town  afire, 
will  she  not,  Dick?  Here,  Nell,  let  me 
introduce  my  friend,  Richard  Brinsley 
Sheridan,  author  of  'The  Rivals.'  You  Ve 
heard  of  the  play,  of  course,  if  you  have  n't 
seen  it.  All  London  's  talking  of  it,  Nell, 
as  't  will  talk  afresh  when  'The  School  for 
Scandal'  is  finished,  and  put  on  at  Drury 
Lane,  the  long  lane  that 's  to  have  a  turning 
shortly,  eh,  Dick?  Richard,  my  soul's  own 
soul — my  cousin,  the  Lady  Eleanor  Beau- 
mont. And  here,"  he  turned  to  Miss 
Chaffers,  "oh,  my  prophetic  soul,  my  uncle 
—I  beg  pardon — my  aunt.  Aunt  Selina, 
as  I  live!  Well,  aunt,  how  many  hearts 


32        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

have  you  broken  at  Brandon  since  I  left  it  ? 
Hundreds,  I  '11  warrant.  Egad,  you  do 
right  to  come  to  town  at  last,  sweet  Sal: 
we  '11  marry  you  to  a  Duke,  eh,  Dick? 
Selina,  fair  Selina,  your  unworthy  nephew 
kisses  your  hand." 

Miss  Chaffers  snatched  away  her  hand 
indignantly. 

"Unworthy  nephew,  indeed!  Unworthy 
reprobate,  say  I,  and  always  have  done!" 
cried  she. 

"Aye,  so  you  have,  dear  aunt,"  concurred 
Brandon,  sweet-temperedly,  "and  what  a 
goodly  knave  am  I  to  verify  your  kind 
predictions.  Think  how  many  graceless 
whelps  have  given  the  lie  to  loving  relatives, 
becoming  canting,  philanthropic,  virtuous, 
honest  paragons  of  perfection,  when  the 
downward  way  was  foretold  of  them.  Out 
on  all  such  thankless  dogs,  who  'd  give  the 
lie  to  those  who  love  them.  I  am  none  such  1 
I  have  proved  sinner,  basilisk,  miscreant, 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        33 

rascal,  rogue,  doer  of  evil  deeds,  and  worker 
of  iniquity;  all  this  that  my  gentle  aunt 
might  say:  'I  told  you  so!'  Dick,  Dick, 
an'  you  were  not  already  married,  I  'd  be- 
stow thee  on  this  blushing  Hebe  here,  and 
write  thee  down  'mine  uncle'!" 

Lady  Eleanor's  beautiful  brow  contracted 
as  if  with  pain,  while  she  listened  to  her 
cousin's  persiflage.  She  broke  into  his 
speech  with  quiet  reproof. 

"Sir,  I  wonder  at  your  levity.  Surely,  at 
such  a  time — " 

"Time,  say  you,  Nell?  Time  is  for  ruling 
slaves,  sweet  coz,  and  its  shackles  were  not 
forged  to  bind  one  so  blest  as  I." 

"So  blest  as  you?" 

"Aye.  Who  could  be  better  blest? 
'Whatever  comes  naught  matters  so  that 
money  comes  withal.'  What  am  I  worth, 
old  Law  Books?"  he  demanded  abruptly  of 
Sharp,  who  responded  coldly: 

"I  do  not  understand  you,  sir." 


34,        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"You  'd  be  wiseacre  indeed  if  you  did,  for 
there  are  times  when  I  scarce  understand 
myself,  eh,  Dick?  But,  in  plain  language, 
what  income  falls  to  me?  Heir  to  all  my 
father  had  to  leave,  what  money  will  the 
estate  pay  me  year  by  year?" 

"I  cannot  say  to  a  fraction,  my  lord,  but 
it  is  something  over  ten  thousand  pounds." 

"Ten  thousand!  Not  more?  Then  it  is 
not  enough." 

"Not  enough?"  echoed  Lady  Eleanor,  in 
amazement. 

"No,  coz;  not  enough  for  my  purpose! 
'T  would  take  two  years,  and  not  a  stiver 
spent,  to  reach  the  sum  I  've  set  my  heart 
on  having  ready  to  hand  before  I  'm  two 
months  older.  And  that  being  so —  '  Again 
the  young  lord  directed  his  attention  to  Mr. 
Sharp.  "Speak  up,  Injunctions:  what 
would  it  sell  for?" 

"Sell  for?  Surely,  my  lord,  you — you 
don't  mean  Brandon  Hall?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        35 

"Aye,  that  I  do.  What  else  have  I  to 
sell,  Red  Tape?  Come,  let 's  have  the  figure 
in  a  word." 

"The  figure — the  figure  Brandon  Hall 
would  sell  for?" 

"Yes ;  put  up  at  auction — this  week  or  the 
next — what  would  it  fetch  in  cash?" 

"My  lord!" 

The  lawyer's  tone  of  horrified  dismay 
seemed  slightly  to  irritate  the  good-natured 
young  man. 

"Lord  me  no  lords,"  he  said,  more 
brusquely  than  he  had  yet  spoken.  "Give 
answer  if  you  know,  or,  if  you  do  not — " 

The  sentence  remained  incomplete,  broken 
by  the  sudden  entrance  of  a  panting  man, 
and  as  the  door  opened  to  admit  him  there 
entered  also  the  sound  of  many  voices,  and 
eager,  trampling  feet.  The  newcomer  cried 
breathless  caution: 

"Charles!  Dick!  It's  all  up  with  the 
pair  of  you.  I  saw  where  you  dodged  in, 


36        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

and  did  my  best  to  throw  the  others  off  the 
scent,  but  as  well  try  to  turn  the  hounds 
from  a  running  fox  as  strive  to  deflect  Kitty 
Clive  from  a  thing  she  's  set  her  mind  upon. 
The  baggage  sent  her  bearers  racing 
through  the  streets  to  get  wind  of  you,  and 
they  found,  at  last,  a  rattletrap  who  'd  seen 
you  enter  here." 

Brandon's  momentary  annoyance  van- 
ished, and  he  threw  back  his  head  in  laughter. 

"Oh.  wondrous  Kit!"  he  exclaimed.  "You 
hear,  Dick  ?  We  're  unearthed ;  and  the 
man  who  'd  run  twice  from  Kitty  Clive — 
perish  the  thought!  Where  is  she  now, 
Woodward?  Close  at  hand?" 

"Aye;  and  all  the  others  in  her  train. 
There 's  not  a  man  of  Covent  Garden's 
'stock'  she  has  not  enlisted  in  the  game.  She 
is  determined  to  make  heyday  and  a  holiday 
of  your  luck,  Charlie,  and  to  be  'in  at  the 
death'  with  horse  and  hounds,  and  such  a 
cracking  of  bottles  as  will  be  remembered 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        37 

for  a  month.  I  ran  ahead  to  give  warning 
lest  you  should  still  be  minded  to  slip  the 
leash,  and  show  her  a  clean  pair  of  heels." 

"Hm-m!"  said  Brandon.  "Who  shows 
his  heels  once  to  Kitty  Clive  is  a  brave 
man,  but  he  who  shows  them  twice  is — 
what?" 

"A  fool,  and  worse,"  responded  Sheridan, 
promptly,  "for  he  confounds  himself,  and 
flies  from  what  half  the  town  declares  is  all 
the  town  contains.  To  run  from  Kit? 
There  are  no  men  in  London  but  ourselves 
who  'd  dare  to  do  it,  and  even  we,  having 
done  it  once— 

"Will  forget  our  folly,  and  not  do  it 
again,"  Brandon  concluded.  "Let  her  come, 
Woodward ;  man  cannot  escape  his  fate,  and 
he  who  'd  escape  it  when  it  arrives  in  such 
sweet  shape  as  Kitty  Clive,  deserves  the 
rack — and  more.  Sweet  Kit!  Wild  Kit! 
Incomparable  Kit!  Open  the  door  to  her, 
and  let  her  have  her  will." 


38        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Then  he  seemed  to  recall  the  object  of 
his  presence  in  the  dingy  business  office,  and 
endeavored  again  to  extract  an  answer  from 
the  reluctant  man  of  law. 

"Now,  Ancient  Dockets,"  he  commanded, 
turning  to  Sharp,  "let 's  get  on  with  what 
we  have  in  hand.  Or,  no!  A  moment, 
please.  Woodward,  my  king  of  Romeos, 
here  's  a  Juliet  to  your  liking.  Aunt  Selina, 
let  me  present  my  friend,  William  Wood- 
ward of  Garrick's  company,  who,  though  a 
player  at  a  rival  house,  I  can  recommend  to 
you  as  one  who  does  the  'sighing  lover'  well. 
Gaze  on  him,  sweet  maid,  and  let  your  'eye 
discourse,'  for  half  the  damsels  in  London 
town  have  broke  their  hearts  for  love  of 
him.  'Is  he  not  strangely  beautiful?'  Wil- 
liam, my  soul's  own  soul — my  aunt,  Miss 
Selina  Chaffers,  a  pearl  beyond  price,  and 
with  a  price  beyond  pearls.  I  offer  to  the 
lucky  jeweler  who  sets  her  in  his  home — 
and  takes  her  out  of  mine — two  thousand 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        39 

pounds  in  solid  cash  the  day  he  leads  her  to 
the  altar.  Go  in,  sweet  Will,  and  heaven 
prosper — and  pity — thee." 

Entering  into  the  spirit  of  Brandon's 
jocularity,  Woodward  acknowledged  the 
introduction  with  exaggerated  courtesy,  but 
the  financial  proposition  brought  a  covetous 
and  calculating  flash  to  the  eyes  of  Humble 
Sycamore.  He  abandoned  his  desk,  and 
crossed  to  the  side  of  Miss  Chaffers,  as  if 
determined  to  brook  no  rival  whom  he  re- 
garded as  a  mere  playacting  vagabond. 

"Two  thousand  pounds!"  he  murmured 
inaudibly,  and  set  himself  to  the  task  of 
absorbing  Selina's  undivided  attention,  but 
in  this  he  did  not  wholly  succeed.  Miss 
Chaffers  was  in  her  element,  and  meant  to 
make  the  most  of  her  opportunity.  Coquet- 
tishly  she  evaded  the  flatteries  of  both. 

"La!  Get  away!"  she  simpered.  "I 
never  saw  the  like!  You  awful  men!  You 
tease  a  girl  to  death!" 


40        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Meanwhile  Lord  Brandon  had  become  all 
seriousness  again. 

"Now,  Money  Bags,"  he  continued,  ad- 
dressing Mr.  Sharp,  "we  '11  back  to  where 
we  started,  and  get  as  near  as  your  sealed 
and  red-tape  bound  brains  will  let  you  go, 
to  the  price  that  Brandon  Hall  would  bring 
if  it  were  put  up,  lock,  stock,  and  barrel,  to 
be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  Come,  out 
with  the  price:  what  will  it  fetch  in  good, 
honest  gold?" 

Mr.  Sharp  ignored  him,  looking  instead 
at  Eleanor;  speaking  to  her. 

"He  'd  sell  the  place,  my  lady — you  hear? 
He  'd  sell  Brandon  Hall." 

"Aye,  that  I  would,"  assented  Brandon 
proudly,  placing  one  hand  affectionately  on 
Sheridan's  shoulder.  "For  Dickon  here, 
I  'd  sell  my  right  to  enter  heaven,  or  mort- 
gage my  warm  niche  by  Satan's  kitchen 
blaze  to  see  Old  Drury  his,  and  Teazel,  as 
he  's  drawn  her,  tread  the  boards  alive!" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        41 

"Charlie,  what  did  I  tell  you?"  broke  in 
Woodward.  "Here  's  Kitty  herself,  and  all 
the  crowd  with  her." 

Looking  toward  the  window,  the  others 
saw  pass  a  sedan  chair  borne  by  liveried  at- 
tendants, and  surrounded  by  a  laughing, 
boisterous  throng.  An  instant  later  the  door 
was  burst  violently  open,  and  the  crowd 
trooped  in  with  cheers  and  shouting,  divid- 
ing to  left  and  right  as  Kitty  Clive  was 
carried  through  it  in  her  chair.  Outside  the 
window  an  eager  mob  stood  peering  into  the 
room,  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement. 

"Have  at  ye  for  a  pair  of  scurvy  knaves, 
to  lead  a  lady  such  a  chase  as  this!"  cried 
Kitty,  leaning  from  her  chair,  and  laughing 
at  Lord  Brandon  and  Richard  Sheridan. 
"A  man,  a  man!  My  kingdom  for  a  man! 
I  *m  shut  in  like  a  bird  in  a  cage,  and  not  a 
hand  stretched  forth  to  set  me  free." 

Sheridan  sprang  forward  to  assist  her,  but 
she  waved  him  aside. 


42        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Away,  ye  bundle  of  immense  conceit! 
'T  was  a  man  I  called  for,  not  a  hen-pecked 
thing  like  ye !" 

"Will  I  do,  Kit,  sweet  lass?"  asked 
Brandon,  leaving  Eleanor's  side. 

"Aye,  at  a  pinch,  though  it 's  a  poor 
apology  ye  are  to  one  who  's  used  to  have 
her  pick  and  call,"  she  answered,  giving 
him  her  hand,  nevertheless.  He  helped  her 
to  alight,  then  the  bearers  took  up  her  chair 
and  went  out,  standing  aside  for  a  moment 
to  permit  the  entrance  of  two  liveried  serv- 
ants bringing  hampers. 

"Rogue,  to  run  away  from  me  as  if  I 
were  a  thing  to  fright  the  eyes  of  all  the 
town,"  went  on  Kitty,  with  pretended  petu- 
lance. "Ne'er  did  men  the  like  to  Kitty 
Clive  before,  and  ye  Ve  hurt  me  in  my 
strongest  point,  my  vanity." 

"Nay,  Kit,"  retorted  Brandon,  "you  're 
armored  there  so  thickly  that  not  a  shot  could 
reach  you,  nor  a  shaft  pass  through." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        43 

Affecting  deep  disdain,  Kitty  Clive 
turned  her  back  on  her  cavalier,  and  thus  for 
the  first  time  glimpsed  the  righteously  horri- 
fied features  of  Miss  Selina  Chaffers. 
Instantly  she  whirled  round  again,  clutch- 
ing Brandon's  arm  as  though  in  extreme 
fear. 

"Angels  and  ministers  of  grace  defend 
us!"  she  ejaculated,  melodramatically. 
"Charlie,  ye  dog,  is  yon  the  ruins  of  your 
ancient  house?  Give  it  a  name,  Charlie, 
give  it  a  name,  and  'let  me  not  burst  in 
ignorance.' ' 

"Miss  Chaffers,"  explained  Brandon,  "is 
my  maiden  aunt  a  dozen  times  removed." 

"Then  remove  her  once  again,  and  get  her 
out  of  sight  entirely,"  entreated  Kitty. 
'The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them,  the 
good—  Her  bright,  alert  eyes,  searching 
the  dim  old  room,  discovered  Lady  Eleanor, 
who  had  recoiled  from  the  unwelcome  in- 
truders, and  stood  watching  them,  with 


44        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

evident  distress,  from  the  sheltering  shadow. 

"  'What  light  from  yonder  window 
breaks?'  "  cried  Kitty,  abruptly  changing  her 
quotation.  '  'It  is  the  east,  and  Juliet  is 
the  sun.'  Aha,  ye  rogue,  no  wonder  that  ye 
flew  hotfoot  to  outwit  us  all!  Is  yon  an 
'auntie,'  too,  ye  dog?" 

"It  does  not  matter,"  said  Brandon, 
coldly.  "You  'd  not  understand  her  like, 
nor  she  the  like  of — us!  Come,  Sharp,  to 
business,  man!  You  have  not  told  me  yet 
what  Brandon  Hall,  in  the  market,  would 
bring.  Set  me  its  price,  and  set  it  so  my 
friends  may  hear.  Put  up  for  sale, — man- 
sion, demesnes,  timber,  furniture,  farms, 
and  all, — what  would  it  bring  in  good,  red 
English  gold?" 

"Two  hundred  thousand  pounds  at  least, 
my  lord." 

A  murmur  of  astonishment  and  delight 
ran  through  the  room. 

"Two  hundred  thousand  pounds !"  echoed 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        4,5 

Brandon,  all  gravity  disappearing.  "You 
hear,  Dick?  You  hear?  It's  joy,  good 
Dick,  it 's  joy  for  us  at  last!" 

"And  joy  for  all  who  know  ye,  Charlie, 
lad!"  shouted  Kitty,  and  even  her  boister- 
ousness  could  not  conceal  the  sincerity  of 
her  pleasure.  "A  bumper,  quick!  A  bumper 
to  the  lucky  dog.  Wine  for  my  lord !  Wine 
for  the  multitude!  Wine  for  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds!" 

The  servants  at  the  door,  setting  down  the 
hampers,  which  were  immediately  seized 
upon  by  the  throng,  hurried  to  a  table  and 
cleared  it  of  its  load  of  bundled  documents 
by  the  simple  expedient  of  shooting  all  off 
on  the  floor.  Carrying  it  to  the  center  of 
the  room,  they  set  out  on  it  bottles  and 
glasses  taken  from  the  hampers. 

"Madam,  you  go  too  far!"  protested  the 
indignant  and  wrathful  Mr.  Sharp.  "This 
is  my  office ;  those  my  deeds !" 

But  his  words  availed  nothing;  for  the 


46        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

time  being  the  room  and  all  it  contained  be- 
longed to  Kitty  and  her  friends,  and  Bran- 
don himself  led  the  revelry. 

"Thy  deeds  be  on  thy  head,  then!"  he 
answered,  merrily,  catching  up  a  bundle  of 
documents  and  shying  it  at  him.  It  missed 
the  lawyer,  and  crashed  through  the  window, 
causing  some  confusion  in  the  watching 
crowd  outside,  but  Brandon  laughed  up- 
roariously. 

"Whate'er  the  damage,  set  it  down  to  me. 
Two  hundred  thousand  pounds!  Up  with 
the  Hall  for  sale  to-morrow,  man, — lock, 
stock,  and  barrel, — to  the  highest  bidder !" 

"My  lord!"  protested  Sharp,  in  dismay. 
Lady  Eleanor  stepped  bravely  forward,  her 
beautiful  eyes  turned  appealingly  on  her 
cousin. 

"Charles!  You'd  sell  Brandon  Hall? 
Sell  your  ancestral  home?" 

"Aye,  every  stick  and  stone  of  it  to  serve 
the  purpose  that  I  have  in  view.  Garrick 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        47 

shall  out!  Dick  Sheridan  shall  have  Drury 
Lane,  and  all  the  world  shall  wonder!" 

Amidst  enthusiastic  cheers  from  his  com- 
rades, Lord  Brandon  snatched  up  a  glass, 
and  sprang  on  to  the  table. 

"I  '11  make  thee,  Dick— I  '11  make  thee 
though  I  break  myself,  and  tread  the  boards, 
a  beggar,  once  again.  Old  Drury  shall  be 
yours;  the  whole  world  shall  echo  to  your 
fame!  Up  with  your  glasses:  up,  you 
knaves!  For  Sheridan!  For  Sheridan! 
For  Sheridan!" 

Amidst  the  wildest  acclamations  was  the 
toast  responded  to,  but  apart  from  the 
motley  of  movement  and  color  stood  the 
slender,  black-gowned  figure  of  Lady  El- 
eanor, white- faced,  and  intensely  sad. 

"Was  it  for  this,"  she  murmured,  "for 
this!" 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  south  front  of  Brandon  Hall  was 
reddened  by  the  last  rays  of  sunset 
when  Lord  Brandon  summoned  the  servants 
to  bring  wine  and  glasses.  For  the  five 
people  seated  on  the  grassy  terrace  before 
the  old  Manor  House  it  had  been  an  after- 
noon of  interest  and  deep  significance. 
Absorbed  in  the  reading  of  Richard  Sheri- 
dan's latest  play,  time's  passing  had  been 
forgotten,  but  now  the  appearance  of  foot- 
men bearing  laden  trays  was  welcomed 
by  all. 

"A  call  from  labor  to  refreshment,"  cried 
William  Woodward,  rising  with  alacrity. 
"Speaking  for  myself,  never  was  it  more 
opportune.  My  mouth  's  as  dry  as  a  lime 
pit,  You  're  the  host,  Charlie,  so  give  us  a 

48 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        49 

toast,  with  no  long  speech  to  usher  it  in,  an' 
you  love  me." 

Brandon  sprang  to  his  feet  and  held 
aloft  a  brimming  glass. 

"The  shortest  possible,  Will;  a  quartette 
of  words :  Here  's  to  'The  Rivals' !" 

"Coupled  with  the  name  of  him  who  is 
without  a  rival — Dick  Sheridan,"  put  in  the 
elder  of  the  two  ladies  present. 

"No,  Mrs.  Lessingham,  I  beg  of  you," 
protested  Sheridan.  "I  also  am  a  Sahara  of 
thirst.  I  cannot  drink  to  myself,  so,  here  's 
to  the  play!" 

"  'The  Rivals'!  'The  Rivals'!"  cried  each 
one,  rising. 

"And  may  the  verdict  of  London  be  as 
favorable  as  our  own!"  added  Brandon, 
amid  the  clinking  of  glasses  that  preceded 
the  drinking  of  the  toast. 

"Indeed,  Dick,"  spoke  Mrs.  Lessingham, 
as  glasses  were  refilled,  "you  deserve  a 
double  portion  of  wine,  for  while  we  enacted 


50        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

one  character  apiece  you  played  a  dozen  in 
reading  the  parts  we  had  no  actors  to  speak." 

"I  should  have  acquitted  myself  better 
under  the  inspiration  of  two  such  pairs  of 
eyes,"  said  Sheridan,  gallantly. 

"The  play  will  take  London  by  storm," 
declared  Woodward.  "It  was  'The  Rivals' 
in  a  double  sense;  Mrs.  Lessingham,  Miss 
Barsanti,  and  myself  from  Dmry  Lane  rival- 
ing you  and  Sheridan  from  Covent 
Garden." 

"  'T  is  not  rivalry,  Will,  but  cooperation," 
corrected  Brandon.  "An  alliance,  not  com- 
petition, for  next  week  Richard  Brinsley 
Sheridan  is  lessee  of  Drury  Lane." 

"Ah,  I  guessed  that  was  in  the  wind, 
Charlie,  from  what  you  said  in  the  lawyer's 
office." 

"Are  we  then  at  your  mercy,  Dick?"  ex- 
claimed the  younger  lady,  beseechingly.  "I 
trust  I  pleased  you  in  my  portrayal  of  your 
heroine  this  afternoon." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        51 

"I  fell  in  love  with  her  impersonation, 
Miss  Barsanti,"  Sheridan  assured  her, 
bowing. 

"Does  Garrick  retire,  then?"  she  asked, 
curiously.  "He  has  threatened  to  for  years." 

"Garrick  retires,"  answered  Brandon. 
"So  here  's  to  the  setting  sun!"  He  raised  his 
glass.  "To  Garrick,  the  noblest  Roman  of 
them  all!" 

"We  come  from  London  to  learn  the  news 
that  most  concerns  us,"  cried  Mrs.  Lessing- 
ham.  "Let 's  make  the  most  of  our  oppor- 
tunity, Kate,  and  curry  favor.  Dick,  we  're 
making  eyes  at  you.  Away  with  the  setting 
sun ;  it 's  gone.  My  toast  is  to  the  rising 
sun!" 

"Zounds,  Mrs.  Lessingham,"  protested 
Lord  Brandon,  "although  the  material  sun 
has  set,  you  may  be  too  hasty  in  dismissing 
the  setting  sun  from  the  stage.  I  heard  just 
now  the  impatient  jangle  of  a  bell  that  may 
mean  Garrick  himself.  I  asked  him  here 


52        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

to-day,  and  although  he  answered  neither 
yes  nor  no,  I  expect  to  see  him." 

"Gracious,  Charlie,  you  should  have  given 
us  warning!"  exclaimed  Miss  Barsanti. 
"Should  one  of  his  ill-tempers  possess  him, 
which  is  likely  enough  after  such  a  journey, 
what  will  he  say  when  he  finds  three  members 
of  his  company  in  the  very  stronghold  of 
the  enemy?" 

"Have  no  fear,  lady.  Garrick  and  Sheri- 
dan are  friends,  not  rivals,  and  I  shall  never 
be  called  upon  to  enact  the  part  of  Sir 
Lucius  O 'Trigger  between  them." 

"Garrick  is  my  friend,"  assented  Sheri- 
dan, "and  we  are  in  the  midst  of  amicable 
negotiations,  resulting,  we  hope,  in  greatly 
augmenting  Garrick's  wealth  and  Sheridan's 
fame." 

"Each  to  his  humor,  and  both  will  be 
pleased!"  cried  Mrs.  Lessingham.  "We 
have  drunk  to  Mammon,  and  now  I  give 
you  Ambition  as  a  toast.  Here  's  to  the 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        S3 

rising  sun  that  will  eclipse  all  others!  Dick, 
I  adore  you!" 

Sheridan  threw  back  his  head,  and  laughed 
in  delight  at  the  lady's  eulogy,  but  his  merri- 
ment ceased  with  startling  abruptness  as  a 
footman  appeared,  and  made  the  very  dis- 
tinct announcement: 

"Mrs.  Sheridan!" 

Sheridan  turned  quickly  to  face  the 
hooded  and  cloaked  figure  following  the 
servant,  and  the  other  men  stood  up  more 
slowly.  Miss  Barsanti  remained  seated, 
while  Mrs.  Lessingham  slowly  lowered  her 
glass  to  the  table  before  her,  and  stood  with 
eyes  downcast  and  lips  compressed. 

"So,  Mr.  Sheridan,"  said  the  newcomer, 
bitterly  and  deliberately,  "I  find  you  rioting 
here,  wine-swilling,  rousing  the  echoes  with 
drunken  laughter,  while  ruin  has  fallen  on 
us  in  London." 

"My  dear,  my  dear!"  implored  Sheridan, 
endeavoring  to  take  her  hand,  but  she  struck 


54        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

his  aside,  clenching  and  unclenching  her 
own. 

"You  said  you  'd  be  gone  a  day,"  she  con- 
tinued, "and  a  week  has  passed,  with  no 
word  from  you,  while  I,  striving  to  save 
your  credit  and  your  honor,  am  insulted  by 
the  lowest  in  London.  The  writs  are  upon 
us,  and  your  creditors  in  possession  of  your 
house,  while  you  roar  with  drunken  laughter 
at  the  flattery  of  brazen  women." 

"You  are  beside  yourself,  my  dear.  The 
journey  has  exhausted  you.  I  have  been 
away  but  three  days.  My  stay  here  has 
been  imperative  and  important;  important 
not  only  to  me,  but  to  my  creditors.  We 
partake  of  but  a  parting  glass  on  the  eve 
of  my  return  to  London." 

"A  parting  glass!  Your  return  to  Lon- 
don !  Your  return  to  London  will  be  speedy 
enough,  for  you  will  go  back  with  me  within 
the  hour.  Am  I  to  battle  alone  with  the  re- 
sults of  your  spendthrift  folly?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        55 

She  pointed  dramatically  to  Mrs.  Les- 
singham. 

"Who  is  this  creature  that  cries  to  all  the 
world  that  she  adores  you?" 

"My  dear,  my  dear,  I  implore  you,"  mur- 
mured Sheridan,  helplessly,  but  Brandon, 
stepping  forward,  intervened  with  a  smile. 

"Mrs.  Sheridan,  I  am  the  culprit.  These 
ladies  and  this  gentleman  are  my  guests,  as 
Mr.  Sheridan  is;  as  I  hope  you  will  consent 
to  be.  Mrs.  Lessingham  but  expressed  her 
admiration,  not  of  your  husband,  but  of  his 
genius  in  writing  a  play  that  will  make  the 
broker's  men  vanish  as  though  a  wand  from 
the  Arabian  Nights  were  flourished  over 
them." 

"So  you  are  Mrs.  Lessingham,"  said  Mrs. 
Sheridan,  looking  her  scornfully  up  and 
down.  "And  pray,  is  there  no  Mr.  Lessing- 
ham to  be  the  recipient  of  your  admiration?" 

"Madam,"  responded  the  other,  suavely, 
"  't  is  not  the  fashion  to  adore  our  husbands, 


56        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

and  I  see  you  are  well  acquainted  with  the 
mode." 

"Dear  Mrs.  Sheridan,  permit  me  a  word 
or  two,"  begged  her  host.  "We  have  good 
news  for  you,  if  you  will  but  do  me  the  honor 
to  listen.  We  have  been  rehearsing  your 
husband's  play,  which  promises  great  success. 
These,  the  actors  in  it,  are  my  guests:  Mrs. 
Lessingham,  Miss  Barsanti,  and  Will  Wood- 
ward, all  of  Drury  Lane  Theater,  who,  at 
this  moment,  expect  their  chief,  David  Gar- 
rick.  Indeed,  we  mistook  your  ring  at  the 
gate  for  his,  and  Garrick's  presence  would 
cast  a  mantle  of  respectability  over  even  the 
inmates  of  Brandon  Hall." 

"And  where,  sir,  are  the  ladies  of  your 
family?"  asked  Mrs.  Sheridan.  "Why  do 
they  not  contribute  the  virtue  of  their  pres- 
ence, pending  the  arrival  of  the  reputable 
Mr.  Garrick?" 

"My  dear  Elizabeth,"  urged  Sheridan,  "I 
beseech  you  to  remember  what  we  owe  Lord 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        57 

Brandon  at  this  crisis.  Through  his  gen- 
erosity any  action  of  our  creditors  is 
nullified." 

"You  told  me,  Richard,  that  Lord  Bran- 
don had  an  aunt  and  a  cousin,  who  did  the 
honors  of  his  house.  I  see  neither  one  nor 
the  other  in  this  company." 

"Madam,"  said  Brandon,  courteously, 
"my  aunt  and  cousin  differ  from  myself  in 
this  respect;  they  are  not  interested  in  the 
drama,  and  it  sometimes  happens  that  a  man 
has  not  that  influence  with  the  sex  to  which 
he  feels  his  merit  entitles  him." 

Sheridan's  manifest  embarrassment  had 
communicated  itself  to  the  other  members 
of  the  little  party,  and  at  this  juncture 
Woodward  interposed,  saying: 

"Mr.  Sheridan,  we  should  sketch  over  that 
last  act  again  before  dinner.  Have  we  your 
permission  to  retire,  Lord  Brandon?" 

"Ah,  yes,"  agreed  Brandon,  gratefully  ac- 
cepting the  timely  suggestion.  "Many  of 


58        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

the  lines  require  more  study  than  we  were 
able  to  give  them  this  afternoon.  I  will  see 
you  later,  and  may  perhaps  throw  in  a  sug- 
gestion or  two." 

He  bowed  to  Mrs.  Lessingham  and  Miss 
Barsanti,  who  curtsied,  and  retired  in  the 
wake  of  Woodward.  Sheridan  walked  rest- 
lessly to  and  fro,  while  Mrs.  Sheridan  gazed 
after  the  retreating  trio,  and  then  turned 
with  some  apprehension  from  her  husband  to 
Lord  Brandon. 

"Lord  Brandon,  you  have  no  conception 
of  what  I  have  had  to  endure  these  three 
days,"  she  said,  more  meekly  than  she  had 
hitherto  spoken. 

"I  am  sure  you  endured  it  nobly,  Mrs. 
Sheridan,  and,  indeed,  you  have  my  deepest 
sympathy.  Who  has  been  more  tracked 
down  by  creditors  than  I?  And  if  I  have 
escaped  prison,  it  was  not  through  plenitude 
of  money,  but  by  amazing  good  luck,  and 
some  knack  in  the  art  of  swift  disappearance. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        59 

All  that  is  happily  past,  thank  fortune,  for 
both  of  us,  Mrs.  Sheridan." 

"Our  house  in  Orchard  Street  is  like  a 
raided  den  of  thieves.  An  execution  has 
been  issued,  and  they  are  taking  an  inven- 
tory of  everything  we  possess.  I  have  been 
the  victim  of  ribaldry  and  laughter,  endur- 
ing insult  and  scorn  from  the  bailiff's  lowest 
minions.  And  to  find  my  husband  laughing 
and  drinking  with  these  painted  Jezebels — " 

She  broke  down  with  a  sob,  but  Brandon 
patted  her  soothingly  on  the  shoulder,  his 
paternal  attitude  contrasting  ludicrously 
with  his  boyish  face. 

"There,  there,  Mrs.  Sheridan.  We  men 
are  brutes  at  best,  but  your  husband  is 
blameless.  Only  an  hour  ago,  during  the 
play,  he  was  wishing  you  were  here,  that  he 
might  benefit  from  your  counsel  and 
sympathy." 

"I  have  no  desire  to  be  harsh,  or  unjust — " 

"Indeed,  madam,  you  are  neither.     It  is 


60        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

the  anxiety  of  these  last  days  that  has  over- 
set you,  and  the  tiring  journey  from  London. 
Let  me  offer  you  a  glass  of  wine." 

She  sipped  the  wine  he  poured  for  her, 
dabbing  her  eyes  meanwhile  with  a  hand- 
kerchief. 

"I  try  to  be  scrupulously  fair  and  just  to 
every  one,"  she  murmured,  "and  certainly 
not  less  so  to  my  husband,  whom  I  love  dearly 
in  spite  of — " 

"Ah,  madam,  what  would  we  wretched 
men  be,  lacking  the  forgiveness  of  your 
angelic  sex?  We  need  it  constantly — need 
it  as  much  as  we  deserve  it  little.  Your  hus- 
band is  as  one  apart.  His  thoughts  are  of 
you  alone,  and  who  should  know  him  better 
than  I?  Would  that  I  profited  more  by  his 
example.  And  now,  Mrs.  Sheridan,  may  I 
conduct  you  to  your  room?  I  am  giving  a 
little  dinner  to-night  in  honor  of  Dick's 
superb  play,  and  your  presence  will  render 
the  feast  the  more  enjoyable." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        61 

"No,  no ;  I  must  return  to-night.  Richard, 
you  will  come  with  me?" 

"As  you  please,  Elizabeth." 

"But  surely  you  will  not  leave  Brandon 
Hall  this  evening,"  urged  the  young  lord. 
"You  are  most  welcome  here." 

"I  would  rather  go,  Charlie,"  said  Sheri- 
dan, with  some  decision.  "I  have  done  here 
all  that  is  possible,  and  considering  the  state 
of  matters  in  London,  my  place  is  there  until 
the  house  is  cleared.  Garrick  is  not  likely 
to  come;  possibly  he  cannot  get  away.  I 
will  see  him  in  town." 

"Well,  Dick,  I  shall  not  press  you.  You 
know  that  both  Mrs.  Sheridan  and  yourself 
are  welcome  to  what  my  house  contains.  Old 
Sharp's  assistant  is  coming  with  documents 
for  me  to  sign.  He  should  have  been  here 
now,  but  he  is  not  a  valiant  horseman,  and 
has  doubtless  taken  his  time  upon  the  way. 
However,  if  you  are  determined  to  go,  you 
must  have  some  refreshment  before  you 


62        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

depart.  Pardon  me,  madam.  Dick,  I  leave 
you  for  a  few  minutes,  and  hope  you  will 
use  the  time  in  persuading  Mrs.  Sheridan  to 
postpone  the  journey  until  to-morrow,"  and 
going  up  the  steps  from  the  terrace,  Lord 
Brandon  disappeared  through  the  great  en- 
trance door  of  the  Hall. 

Mrs.  Sheridan  turned  to  her  husband, 
who  stopped  his  pacing  of  the  terrace,  and 
gazed  gloomily  at  her. 

"Richard,  I  see  you  are  displeased  with 
me,  but  what  was  I  to  do  with  those  horrible 
men  in  the  house,  and  the  knowledge  that  at 
last  we  were  paupers?" 

"I  am  not  censuring  you,  Betty,  but  our 
affairs  are  much  less  dismal  than  you  sup- 
pose." 

"How  can  they  be  worse?  The  bills  are 
enormous,  and  we  have  n't  a  penny  to  pay 
them.  We  are  in  the  gutter,  and  extrava- 
gance has  done  it.  How  often  have  I 
warned  you?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        63 

"Yes,  yes,  my  dear;  there  is  little  use  in 
talking  of  that." 

"We  are  in  the  very  deeps  of  poverty, 
Richard,  yet  I  am  not  dismayed.  I  will 
economize  and  work  my  fingers  to  the  bone 
for  you." 

"No  need  for  that,  I  think,"  returned  her 
husband,  coldly.  "How  came  you  here?  By 
stage  coach?" 

Mrs.  Sheridan  drew  herself  up  haughtily. 

"No;  we  are  not  down  to  that,  yet.  I 
should  think,  Richard,  you  would  not  wish 
your  wife  to  travel  like  a  bagman." 

"I  merely  asked  how  you  came." 

"I  ordered  a  chaise,  and,  as  I  have  often 
heard  you  say  that  time  is  money,  I  had  two 
postilions,  and  four  horses." 

"Yes,  time  is  money,  when  you  have  to 
pay  for  it,"  said  Sheridan,  laughing  grimly. 

"There,  I  see  you  grudge  me  the  right 
even  to  travel  in  comfort!" 

The  lady  put  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes. 


64        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Not  at  all;  I  was  about  to  suggest  half 
a  dozen  outriders.  A  coach  and  four  is  an 
admirable  start  for  an  economical  life." 

"You  always  doled  out  silver  if  it  was  for 
me,  but  scattered  gold  where  your  own 
pleasures  were  concerned,"  she  said,  in 
muffled  tones.  "Here  are  you  in  this 
luxurious  mansion,  while  I  am  left  in  a  hired 
house—" 

"Tut-tut,  Betty.  Our  house  is  more  luxu- 
rious than  Brandon  Hall." 

"You  desert  me  for  these  painted  crea- 
tures!" 

"They  are  not  painted,  but  are  capable, 
hard-working,  kind-hearted  women;  neither 
were  you  deserted.  Lord  Brandon  asked 
you  to  come  with  me,  but  you  refused  to 
leave  London." 

"How  could  I  know  that  disaster  was  im- 
pending?" 

"Very  well,  Elizabeth ;  let  us  agree  to  say 
no  more  about  it." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        65 

"The  return  journey  costs  but  half  as 
much  as  coming  here,  so,  if  you  look  at  it  the 
right  way,  it  was  economical,  for  you  will 
return  with  me.  I  thought  of  that.  If  you 
but  gave  thought  to  the  future  as  I  do,  we 
would  not  now  be  involved  in  disaster." 

"There  is  no  disaster,  my  dear.  I  Ve  a 
thousand  pounds  in  my  pocket  at  this 
moment." 

"Why,  where  did  you  get  it,  Richard? 
You  had  nothing  when  you  left  London!" 
And  the  lady  dropped  her  handkerchief  and 
hands  to  her  lap. 

"No  matter  for  that.  It  is  borrowed 
money,  but  we  have  to-day  rehearsed  a  play 
that  will  refund  it,  and  next  week  I  shall 
be  lessee  of  Drury  Lane  Theater.  So  cheer 
up,  my  girl.  Instead  of  being  at  the  end, 
we  are  at  the  beginning  of  prosperity.  Lord 
Brandon  has  lent  me  the  money,  and  will 
lend  twenty  thousand  more  before  many 
days  are  past." 


66        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Richard,  I  will  stop  here  a  week  if  you 
like."  And  Mrs.  Sheridan  rose,  and  crossed 
to  her  husband. 

"No;  we  go  at  once  to  London,"  said 
Sheridan,  firmly.  "Here  comes  Brandon," 
he  added  hastily,  as  the  young  man  ran 
lightly  down  the  steps. 

"Dick,"  he  cried,  "I  hope  you  set  forth 
in  glowing  language  the  excellences  of  this 
inn  under  its  new  management,  and  have 
praised  the  landlord  as  the  best  of  hosts." 

"You  were  always  one  of  Betty's  fa- 
vorites, Charlie,  so  it  was  unnecessary  for 
me  to  paint  the  lily.  But  we  must  get  back 
to  London  at  once.  Our  house  will  need 
fumigating,  and  luckily  I  have  the  sulphur. 
I  hope  you  '11  have  a  jolly  dinner  to-night, 
and  we  're  both  sorry  to  leave." 

"Then  come  in  with  me,  and  partake  a 
foretaste  of  the  feast." 

Mrs.  Sheridan  took  his  arm,  and  the  three 
entered  the  house  together. 


CHAPTER  III 

AS  Lord  Brandon  and  his  guests  dis- 
appeared within  Brandon  Hall  there 
came  a  ring  at  the  entrance  gate.  A  serv- 
ant, opening  it,  admitted  Humble  Sycamore, 
who,  lingering  without,  had  been  waiting  to 
see  the  coast  clear  before  entering.  The 
astute  Sycamore,  being  of  an  ambitious  turn 
of  mind,  believed  in  taking  thought  for  his 
own  advancement  as  well  as  that  of  his 
master's  business,  and  on  this  visit  to  Bran- 
don Hall  he  meant  to  serve  both  ends,  giving 
his  own  the  preference. 

"His  lordship  's  engaged  at  present,  Mr. 
Sycamore,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sheridan. 
They'  re  going  back  to  London,  sir,  in  a 
carriage  and  four." 

67 


68        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Sycamore  evinced  no  disappointment  at 
his  lordship's  absence,  but  merely  remarked : 

"That's  what  it  is  to  be  rich,  Miles. 
They  're  just  a  carriage  and  three  to  the 
better  of  me.  I  've  ridden  here  on  the  worst 
horse  in  London,  and  I  did  n't  enjoy  it.  I 
must  go  back  the  same  way,  bad  luck  to  it." 

"Horseback  exercise  do  be  a  bit  tiring, 
sir." 

"You  're  right.    Is  Miss  Chaffers  within?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Here  's  a  shilling  for  you,  all  for  your- 
self." 

"Thank  you,  sir." 

"Go  and  teU  Miss  Chaffers  that  Mr. 
Humble  Sycamore  wishes  a  word  with  her. 
Say  I  have  brought  important  news  from 
London,  and  ask  her  to  see  me  in  the  garden." 

"Certainly,  sir." 

Sycamore  placed  on  one  of  the  small 
tables  the  portfolio  he  had  brought  with 
him,  and  walked  up  and  down  the  terrace. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         69 

"Courage,  Humble,  courage,"  he  mur- 
mured to  himself,  "and  you  Ve  backed  a 
winner.  She  had  three  hundred  a  year  of 
her  own,  and  now  his  lordship  binds  the 
estate  to  pay  her  seven  hundred  a  year  while 
she  lives.  Once  this  is  known,  she  '11  be  so 
proud  that  I'll  have  no  chance  with  her,  but 
if  I  propose  before  she  hears  it,  then  it 's  a 
wedding  or  breach-of -promise  case,  and  I 
stand  to  win  either  way.  Strike  while  the 
iron  's  hot,  Humble,  my  boy.  Ah,  here  she 
comes!" 

"Good  afternoon,  Mr.  Sycamore,"  said 
Miss  Chaffers,  primly.  "This  is  an  unex- 
pected pleasure.  What  brings  you  to 
Brandon  Hall?" 

"The  worst  horse  in  London,"  was  the 
answer  discreetly  checked  unspoken.  Aloud 
Sycamore  said: 

"Ah,  Selina,  need  you  ask?  When  last 
we  met  it  was  within  the  cold,  unsym- 
pathetic precincts  of  a  legal  chamber, 


70        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

surrounded  by  witnesses,  in  circumstances 
that  froze  all  expression  of  affection." 

"Expression  of  affection!  What  extra- 
ordinary language  you  use,  Mr.  Sycamore!" 
"The  term  is  unfamiliar  from  practitioners' 
lips  except  in  breach-of -promise  cases.  Yet 
affection  rises  in  my  heart  at  every  thought 
of  you.' 

"Dear  me,  I  don't  understand  you,  Mr. 
Sycamore,"  murmured  Selina,  much  flus- 
tered. 

"Then,  Selina,  I  shall  make  my  meaning 
plain  as  an  affidavit."  He  dropped  down 
on  his  knees.  "I  offer  you  the  lifelong  devo- 
tion of  a  humble  but  loving  heart.  Selina, 
will  you  be  my  wife?" 

"And  this  to  me!"  cried  Selina,  with 
hauteur.  "Ah,  fickle  man,  you  can  no  longer 
play  with  those  tender  feelings  you  were 
wont  to  trifle  with.  Your  coldness  when 
you  learned  that  the  late  Lord  Brandon  had 
left  me  penniless  was  equaled  only  by  your 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        71 

warmth  when  you  found  I  had  three  hun- 
dred a  year  of  my  own.  'T  is  that  three 
hundred  has  brought  you  hotfoot  from 
London." 

"I  scorn  the  imputation,  Selina.  Three 
hundred — what 's  three  hundred?" 

"It 's  just  four  times  seventy-five,  which 
I  know  to  be  your  annual  income." 

"And  can  you,  fair  but  cruel  Selina,  sup- 
pose that  for  paltry  pelf  I  would  throw 
myself  on  the  sward,  already  becoming 
damp,  at  the  feet  of  the  most  gifted  of  her 
sex?" 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Chaffers,  with  cold  de- 
liberation, "I  can,  and  do." 

Sycamore  rose  awkwardly,  brushing  the 
knees  of  his  trousers. 

"No,  proud  and  noble  damsel,  I  came  to 
offer  you  my  new  and  glorious  prospects. 
I  am  no  hireling  now  at  seventy-five  pounds 
grudgingly  paid.  There  is  before  me  seven 
hundred  pounds  a  year,  which  I  am  eager 


72        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

to  share  with  you,  and  thus  I  hastened  here 
on  the  hardest  horse  to  ride  in  all  London. 
Could  I  but  win  your  love,  I  guarantee  we  'd 
share  a  round  thousand  between  us  every 
year." 

"You  mean  with  my  three  hundred?  Can 
this  be  true?  Have  you  been  taken  into 
partnership  with  Sharp  &  Clipper?" 

"I  have  abandoned  the  law,  Selina.  No 
more  solicitor's  work  for  me,  except  to  so- 
licit your  favor.  I  shall  live  as  a  landed 
gentleman  should,  on  an  income  coming 
from  the  land,  secured  by  one  of  the  finest 
estates  in  England,  and  that  income  will 
last  while  England  lasts." 

"I  congratulate  you.  Has  some  relative 
died?" 

"Distant,  Selina,  distant.  Marriage  con- 
nection with  our  family,  but  a  real  lord,  no 
less." 

"Why,  dearie  me,  Humble,"  exclaimed 
Miss  Chaffers,  melting.  "I  had  no  idea 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        73 

that  you  were  connected  with  the  aris- 
tocracy." 

"I  was  always  a  modest  man,  Selina.  I 
do  not  boast  of  our  family  tree.  My  name 
and  property  I  offer  to  share  with  you, 
Selina,  be  the  same  more  or  less,  as  the  law 
book  says." 

"Humble  Sycamore,  your  unaffected  elo- 
quence warms  my  trusting  heart,"  said 
Selina,  completely  convinced.  "I  always 
loved  you,  Humble,  as  well  you  know,  cun- 
ning flatterer,  but  I  wished  to  be  loved  for 
myself  alone." 

"So  did  I,  Selina.  Forgive  my  mention 
of  the  seven  hundred.  Is  it  a  go,  then?" 

"If  you  mean,  will  I  be  your  loving  wife, 
my  timid,  whispered  answer  is  'Yes.'  Oh, 
be  kind  to  me,  Humble." 

"I  will  that.  For  richer,  for  poorer,  re- 
member, my  Selina." 

He  clasped  her  in  his  arms,  she  lan- 
guishing her  head  on  his  shoulder.  The 


74        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

interruption  that  came  was  none  the  less 
startling  for  being  uttered  in  the  demurest 
of  tones. 

"Did  you  call  me,  Miss  Chaffers?"  asked 
a  meek  voice,  and  the  two  quickly  sprang 
apart,  to  face  Lady  Eleanor's  maid. 

"Oh,  Sophia,"  stammered  Miss  Chaffers, 
"I — I  wished  Miles  to  clear  away  these 
bottles  and  glasses." 

"I  will  tell  him,  Miss,"  said  the  maid, 
obediently. 

Miss  Chaffers  turned  to  the  clerk  with  an 
assumption  of  her  usual  composure. 

"I  will  discover  if  his  lordship  is  disen- 
gaged," she  remarked  calmly.  "Follow  me, 
Mr.  Sycamore." 

Sophia  smiled  mockingly  as  the  pair  en- 
tered the  house,  then  beckoned  to  Miles, 
whom  she  espied  hovering  about  in  the 
background. 

"Follow  her,  indeed!"  commented  the  girl. 
"Well,  she  's  hooked  one  at  last." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        75 

She  clattered  the  bottles  and  glasses  on 
a  tray,  and  handed  it  to  the  man  servant. 

"Go  in  with  that,"  she  commanded,  "and 
come  back  as  quickly  as  you  can,  Miles.  I 
have  something  important  to  say :  something 
that  will  make  our  fortunes." 

"I  '11  be  back  in  two  ticks,"  said  the  man. 

He  returned  speedily,  drawing  the  back 
of  his  hand  across  his  mouth. 

"Miles,"  exclaimed  Sophia,  but  in  a  low 
voice,  "what  do  you  think  of  the  gang 
master  's  brought  down  from  London?" 

"They  're  a  rum  lot,  raising  pandy- 
harmonium  all  night,  and  never  getting  up 
till  lunch  time.  Do  you  think  Lady  Eleanor 
likes  the  Lunnon  trash?" 

"I  'm  sure  she  does  n't.  She  's  weeping 
most  of  the  time,  poor  lady!" 

"Well,"     said     Miles,     philosophically, 

'  't  ain't  no  use  a- weeping.     New  masters, 

new  manners,  say  I.    She  can't  help  herself." 

"Can't  she,  though?" 


76        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Well,  how  can  she?" 

"That 's  my  secret,  Miles.  That 's  what 
I  was  going  to  tell  you.  That 's  where  you 
must  help  me." 

"Is  she  going  to  marry  the  new  master, 
and  turn  out  that  lot?" 

"No,  she  don't  need  to  marry.  Lady 
Eleanor  can  turn  him  and  the  gang  out, 
whenever  she  says  the  word." 

"You  speak  in  sphinxes,  Sophia;  what  do 
you  mean?" 

"Listen,  Miles.  At  the  lawyer's  office  in 
London  I  read  the  will  Lord  Brandon  left." 

"But  Lord  Brandon  did  n't  leave  no  will." 

"Yes,  he  did.  I  read  the  copy  when  Lady 
Eleanor  was  a-holding  of  it.  Brandon  Hall 
'don't  belong  to  new  master  at  all,  not  a 
stick  or  stone  of  it.  It  all  belongs  to  Lady 
Eleanor  herself." 

"By  my  fackins,  what  did  she  say  when 
she  found  it  out?" 

"Found  it  out?    She  knew  it  all  the  time. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        77 

She  hid  the  real  will  so  that  the  new  lord 
would  get  the  estate." 

"What  a  fool!    Why  did  she  do  that?" 

"In  love  with  him,  I  suppose." 

"Nonsense ;  she  'd  only  seen  him  two  or 
three  days." 

"Much  you  know  about  it!  They  were 
boy  and  girl  here  together ;  grew  up  hand  in 
hand  before  old  Lord  Brandon  turned  young 
sprig  away." 

"That's  no  way  to  win  a  man,"  declared 
Miles,  contemptuously.  "She  should  have 
stuck  tight  to  the  blunt,  then  he  'd  have  mar- 
ried her  quick  enough." 

"Yes;  money  is  all  you  men  think  of," 
said  the  girl,  scornfully. 

"Me?  Oh,  I  'm  not  took  that  way.  I  'm 
a-marrying  of  you  for  love,  I  am,  although 
I  do  hold  we  should  save  our  wages." 

"What  need  is  there  for  me  to  save  my 
wages  when  all  the  time  I  know  where  the 
will  is  hid?" 


78        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

The  slower  witted  Miles  failed  to  grasp 
the  point  of  her  remarks. 

"It  don't  leave  no  blunt  to  us,  do  it?"  he 
asked,  stupidly. 

"Oh,  you  are  a  simple,  Miles.  I  '11  get  the 
will,  and  you  '11  take  it  to  new  master,  and 
say :  'Here  's  the  paper  that  leaves  every- 
thing to  Lady  Eleanor.  You  give  me  and 
Sophia  the  lease  of  the  Brandon  Arms,  and 
two  thousand  pounds,  down  on  the  nail, 
and  you  can  burn  this  'ere  will.' ' 

"Soph,  dear,  I  'd  never  dare.  Young 
master  's  got  a  look  in  his  eyes  sometimes 
— well,  he  cold  chills  me,  that 's  what  he  do. 
I  should  n't  like  to  make  him  angry." 

"Angry!  Could  it  make  a  man  angry  to 
save  all  his  property  for  him?  But  you  '11 
make  a  mess  of  it,  so  I  '11  do  it  myself ;  then 
we  '11  have  the  Brandon  Arms,  and  two 
thousand  pounds  in  money.  Will  you  help 
me,  Miles?" 

"Aye,  that  I  will,  lass,  but  I  'd  not  like 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        79 

to  face  him  when  that  look  comes  into  his 
eyes." 

"I  '11  do  the  facing.  You  'd  bungle  it, 
anyway.  I  'm  not  afraid  of  his  looks. 
Hush,  here  's  his  lordship  now,  but  Lady 
Eleanor  's  with  him.  I  must  see  him  alone. 
Not  a  word  of  this  to  a  soul;  remember, 
Miles!" 

"No  fear." 

They  went  back  to  their  respective  duties 
with  some  alacrity  as  Lord  Brandon  and 
Lady  Eleanor  came  down  the  steps  together. 
By  this  time  the  moon  had  risen,  and  lights 
were  visible  here  and  there  in  the  Manor 
House. 

"I  wonder  what 's  come  over  Aunt 
Selina?"  Brandon  said,  laughing.  "I  told 
her  just  now  I  'd  arranged  for  her  an  an- 
nuity of  seven  hundred  pounds  a  year.  I 
thought  the  news  would  please  her,  but  it  had 
a  contrary  effect.  She  began  to  storm  so 
hysterically  that  I  fled.  She  said  she  had 


80        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

been  made  ridiculous ;  as  if  I  could  make  her 
more  ridiculous  than  she  is,  poor  old  dear." 

"Charles,  I  like  neither  your  jokes  nor 
your  laughing,"  reproved  Eleanor,  with 
dignity.  "You  are  heartless.  She  is  my 
relative." 

"She  is  mine  also,  Nell.  You  say  I  am 
heartless.  I  want  to  show  you  I  am  not." 

"There  is  one  thing  I  wish  to  learn  from 
you.  Do  you  persist  in  selling  this  estate?" 

"I  must,  Nell.  My  word  is  pledged. 
But,  sweet  Nell,  you  were  never  meant  to 
be  hidden  away  in  this  remote  corner.  Lon- 
don is  your  world.  There  is  a  town  house. 
I  '11  promise  not  to  sell  that.  Will  you  not 
share  it  with  me?" 

"I  care  nothing  for  the  town  house.  I 
loathe  London,  and  all  pertaining  to  it. 
You  may  sell  it,  so  far  as  I  'm  concerned." 

"Indeed,  Nell;  I  wish  I  had  a  tithe  of 
London  to  part  with.  A  man  can  sell  only 
what  he  has.  But  let  us  cease  all  talk  of 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        81 

barter.  This  lovely  moonlight  was  not 
meant  for  traffic.  'T  is  fairy  land,  and 
Cupid's  very  hunting  ground,  and,  thank  the 
god  of  Love,  we  are  its  sole  inhabitants." 

"What  an  incorrigible  actor  you  are!  The 
scenery  is  here,  therefore  why  not  the  play, 
say  you?  Cannot  you  take  a  serious  view 
of  anything?" 

"Serious  at  five-and-twenty,  Nell?  Ab- 
surd !  And  yet  I  'm  serious  enough  in  this, 
my  girl.  What  have  you  against  me, 
cousin?" 

"I  charge  you  with  heartless  lack  of  con- 
sideration for  your  father's  memory.  You 
have  filled  his  house  with  revelers,  and  pro- 
pose to  scatter  the  patrimony  to  the  winds. 
To  you  has  been  bequeathed  more  than  this 
mansion  and  yonder  countryside.  Your 
father  left  to  you  an  exalted  station  and  an 
honored  name.  That  station  you  abandon; 
that  name  you  flaunt  upon  a  London  play- 
bill!" 


82        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Why,  Nell,  a  man's  life  is  not  to  be  laid 
out  for  him  by  dead  and  gone  ancestors. 
They  lived  their  lives,  God  rest  their  souls, 
and  by  my  soul,  I  shall  live  mine." 

"Your  life!  And  what  is  your  ambition? 
The  founder  of  your  line  was  ennobled  by 
his  sovereign  for  valor  on  the  field  of  battle. 
His  stout  right  arm  and  courageous  heart 
saved  the  life  of  his  king,  while  you,  his 
descendant,  would  strut  upon  the  boards 
with  your  sword  of  lath,  and  mimic  such  as 
he.  If  this  is  the  latest  outcome  of  Brandon 
blood,  would  God  had  made  me  a  man  to 
take  the  place  of  the  deserter." 

"I  thank  God  he  has  done  nothing  of  the 
kind.  Such  women  as  you,  Nell,  are  rare 
enough  already." 

"Your  levity  amazes  me." 

"Levity?  I  am  in  sober  earnest.  I  am 
what  circumstances  have  made  me.  A  pity 
they  had  not  turned  out  a  better  job." 

"Circumstances  are  not  to  blame.     They 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        83 

give  you  the  right  to  be  a  gentleman;  you 
make  yourself  a  mountebank." 

"Sweet  cousin,  you  are  unfair  to  me.  By 
the  immortal  William,  I  think  it  to  my 
credit  that  I  am  no  jailbird.  That  I  have 
won  a  place  for  myself,  and  an  honest  place, 
should  be  matter  for  commendation  rather 
than  censure.  I  had  no  help  but  my  own 
hand  and  brain,  yet  now  that  I  have  re- 
turned, you,  the  friend  of  my  boyhood, 
receive  me  as  if  I  were  a  felon." 

"That  I  do  not,  or  I  should  never  stand 
here  with  you.  If  you  but  fill  worthily  the 
place  your  father  left  vacant,  you  will  find 
no  stancher  friend  than  I.  Cannot  I  per- 
suade you?" 

"Look  you,  Nell,  my  word  is  pledged. 
You  could  not  ask  me  to  forswear  myself. 
The  greatest  man  alive  at  this  moment  is 
Dick  Sheridan,  who  in  my  need  befriended 
me;  in  his  need  I  have  pledged  myself  to 
befriend  him.  At  this  moment  Sheridan  is 


84        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

in  straits,  Nell;  almost  without  means.  He 
married  for  love  when  he  might  have  married 
for  money,  and  has  got  a  jealous,  extrava- 
gant spouse.  A  catastrophe  impends.  With 
twenty  thousand  pounds  Dick  can  secure 
Drury  Lane,  and  his  fortune  is  made." 

"Then  give  him  twenty  thousand  pounds. 
You  can  do  that  without  selling  the  house 
of  your  forefathers." 

"That  I  shall  do,  of  course,  for  my  theater 
will  take  two  or  three  years  in  the  building. 
I  have  sworn  Dick  shall  have  a  temple 
worthy  of  him.  I  am  a  hero  worshiper,  Nell, 
and  Dick  is  my  hero.  I  am  no  ancestor 
worshiper  like  the  Chinese.  So  this  estate 
must  go  from  me ;  like  the  alchemists  of  old, 
into  gold  I  transmute  it." 

"You  are  resolved  on  that?" 

"Absolutely,  sweet  cousin,"  responded 
Brandon,  with  assumed  jauntiness,  "so  we 
will  waste  no  more  precious  time  in  talking 
of  it.  Such  an  hour  as  this  was  not  made 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        85 

for  the  chatter  of  bargain  and  sale,  but  for 
the  sweet  whisperings  of  love.  My  Nelly !" 
He  attempted  to  take  her  hands,  but  she 
shrank  away  from  him.  "My  sweet  lass,  in 
whose  clear  eyes  I  first  read  what  I  did  not 
understand,  until  now  my  own  heart  is  in- 
terpreter. I  love  you,  Nell.  Am  I  too  bold 
in  believing  what  the  eyes  of  yesterday  told 
me,  even  though  the  lips  of  to-day  should 
deny?" 

"Sir,  you  are  mistaken.  You  mistook  me 
then,  and  you  mistake  me  now.  I  do  not 
love  you,  nor  can  I  ever  love  again." 

"Again?  Surely,  Nell,  you  once  cared  for 
me,  and  surely  your  eyes,  that  were  lit  with 
the  glow  of  heaven,  illumining  the  lawyer's 
dismal  den  in  London  when  we  met  a  week 
ago,  gave  token  you  had  not  forgotten? 
Nelly — Nelly,  you  are  quenching  that  con- 
ceit with  which  you  taunted  me.  I  am  not 
the  monster  of  self-esteem  you  think  me. 
The  lesson  is  not  needed,  Nell;  a  new  fear 


86        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

tugs  at  my  heart.  Your  cold  words — your 
distant  manner — Nelly,  my  girl,  do  not  tor- 
ture me.  I  have  always  loved  you,  and  you 
know  it." 

"I  know  nothing  of  the  kind,  Lord  Bran- 
don. If  I  thought  this  new  fancy,  born  of 
a  moonlit  evening  and  surroundings  that 
appeal  to  what  you  call  your  heart,  was  not 
as  evanescent  as  the  moonlight,  I  should  be 
sorry  for  you.  As  it  is,  I  trust  this  transient 
emotion  will  fade  quickly  from  your  mem- 
ory when  you  are  again  in  London.  You 
may  be  certain  it  will  not  linger  in  mine." 

"You  say  you  never  loved  me?" 

"Never." 

"As  a  girl  you  never  loved  me?" 

"Your  vanity  finds  that  incredible,  no 
doubt." 

"Vanity!  I  have  none.  But  love  of  you 
thrills  every  fiber  of  me.  You  say  you  never 
loved  me.  I  must  take  that  as  true,  and  am 
indeed  deluded,  but  it  was  no  vanity  that 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         87 

misled  me.  Such  love  as  mine  loomed  so 
huge  that  it  seemed  impossible  that  it  could 
not  draw  forth  its  like  from  you.  Great 
passion  calls  for  great.  But  though  deeply 
disappointed,  I  am  not  cast  down — " 

"I  knew  you  would  not  be." 

"You  are  harsh  with  me.  I  will  win  you 
yet,  Nelly." 

"Never." 

"I  swear  it.  I  shall  become  the  man  you 
would  have  me  be.  I  shall  make  myself 
worthy.  My  o'ertowering  passion  shall 
compel  your  love." 

"It  cannot.  Never  again  shall  my  heart 
beat  to  the  promptings  of  love." 

"Again?  Twice  you  have  used  that  word, 
which  now  takes  on  a  sinister  meaning. 
Again!  Why  do  you  say  'again'?  Do  you 
love  another?" 

"If  you  must  know  it,  I  have  loved 
another." 

"Who  is  he?" 


88        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"That  you  have  no  right  to  ask.  Yet  it 
matters  little  now  who  knows  it.  Like  you, 
he  went  to  London ;  but,  unlike  you,  he  can- 
not return.  My  only  lover  died  in  London ; 
judge  then  how  bitterly  I  hate  your  vaunted 
town." 

"Eleanor,  you  break  my  heart.  You 
loved  another,  and  I,  fond  fool,  never  sus- 
pected it.  Curst  luck  is  mine.  But,  Nelly, 
your  young  heart  is  not  forever  sunk  in  an 
untimely  grave?" 

"It  is." 

"It  must  not  be.  'T  is  against  nature.  I, 
living,  protest  against  the  monopoly  of  the 
dead.  Let  me  teach  you  to  forget." 

"You  cannot.  To  me  my  lost  love  is  more 
real  than  hosts  of  living  men.  Were  I  to 
tread  the  streets  of  London,  his  wan  ghost 
were  at  my  side,  the  only  vital  being  in  the 
throng  to  me,  the  multitude  vanishing  from 
my  sight  in  his  dear  presence.  Dead,  you 
say;  all  else  is  dead,  and  he  and  I  the  sole 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         89 

survivors.  I  swear  to  God  in  heaven  that 
none  but  he  shall  ever  call  me  wife." 

"Then  may  God  in  heaven  spare  a  thought 
for  me!  None  of  His  creatures  need  it  now 
so  sorely.  Nelly,  it  is  for  your  grief  I 
should  sorrow,  but  I  am  indeed  selfish,  as 
you  charge  me,  and  it  is  my  own  woe  that 
fills  my  thoughts.  Him  you  love  is  dead, 
yet,  dying,  loved  you.  My  love  lives,  but 
turns  from  me  with  loathing." 

Sinking  into  a  chair,  Brandon  flung  his 
arms  on  the  table  before  it  and  buried  his 
head  in  them.  Eleanor  turned  away 
silently,  then  impetuously  whirled  round, 
taking  a  step  toward  him.  But  her  footfall 
made  no  sound  on  the  soft  grass,  and  the 
man  with  his  face  hidden  guessed  nothing  of 
her  impulse.  He  remained  motionless,  while 
the  girl,  checking  herself,  let  her  out- 
stretched hands  fall  to  her  sides,  and  went 
slowly  across  the  terrace,  and  so  into  the 
house. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MILES  viewed  his  arrangement  of 
glasses  and  decanters  with  a  critical 
eye,  but  his  thoughts  were  not  exclusively 
on  his  task.  From  the  dining  room  adjoin- 
ing came  shouts  of  laughter  and  the  clinking 
of  glasses,  indications  that  the  banquet  was 
progressing  merrily.  Miles  was  making 
preparations  in  the  sumptuous  withdrawing 
room  for  coffee  and  liqueurs,  in  readiness 
for  the  conclusion  of  the  repast.  He 
paused,  listening  to  the  sounds  of  festivity. 
"What  a  rum  world  this  is>  to  be  sure,"  he 
soliloquized.  "You  may  laugh — "  and  he 
waved  his  hand  toward  the  curtained  door 
" — but  you  would  n't  laugh  so  hearty  if  you 
knew  the  brink  you  were  standing  on.  With 
one  little  push  Sophia  and  I  could  send  you 

90 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        91 

whirling.  Lor!  To  think  of  it  I  Young 
Brandon  in  all  his  pride  is  but  a  pauper,  if 
he  only  knew  it — a  begging  pauper  I" 

"Who  's  a  pauper,  Miles?" 

Miles,  startled,  became  aware  of  Humble 
Sycamore's  unobtrusive  entrance,  and  re- 
torted : 

"You  are,  for  all  I  know." 

Sycamore  helped  himself  to  a  glass  of 
wine,  and  smacked  his  lips. 

"That 's  what  you  don't  know.  Why, 
I  'm  just  coming  in  for  a  thousand  a  year 
when  I  marry  Miss  Chaffers0  No  pauper 
about  that,  Miles." 

"No;  she  '11  be  the  pauper  then." 

"You're  witness  to  our  arrangement, 
Miles.  Remember  that.  I  '11  do  something 
proper  for  you  and  Sophia  the  day  I  'm 
married.  Sophia  saw  her  in  my  arms,  and 
I  '11  warrant  you  were  looking  on,  too." 

"Yes;  thank  'ee,  sir.  We'll  remember, 
and  we  '11  witness  till  we  're  blind,  sir." 


92        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"No,  keep  your  eyes  open.  A  blind  wit- 
ness is  little  good  in  law,  Miles.  I  Ve  been 
a-dodging  of  her  since  nightfall,  for  I  think 
somehow  she  wants  to  break  her  bargain." 

"Could  n't  want  that,  sir,  with  a  Lunnon 
gent  like  you." 

"It  doesn't  seem  reasonable,  does  it? 
Breach-of -promise,  in  that  case,  and  heavy 
damages.  You  're  witnesses,  you  and 
Sophia,  remember,  and  I  '11  do  something 
handsome  the  day  of  the  verdict.  Now, 
where 's  Lord  Brandon?  My  horse  is 
saddled  and  all  ready,  and  I  must  be  in 
London  to-morrow  morning.  I  want  him  to 
sign  these  papers,  and  then  I  'm  off." 

"Beautiful  night  for  a  ride,  sir." 

"Yes ;  but  where  's  Lord  Brandon,  so  that 
I  can  begin  to  ride?" 

"He  's  in  there,"  said  Miles,  pointing  to 
the  dining  room,  "but  not  likely  to  come  out, 
while  drink  's  a-flowing." 

"But  there 's— " 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        93 

Miles  held  up  a  warning  hand.  "Hush !" 
he  interrupted,  hearing  footsteps  he  recog- 
nized. "  'T  is  Miss  Chaffers  coming."  But 
the  clerk  had  no  time  to  escape. 

"Villain !"  was  the  lady's  bitter  salutation. 

"Miles?  A  villain?"  questioned  Sycamore. 

"No;  you,  Humble  Sycamore!" 

"You  hear  that?"  cried  Sycamore,  appeal- 
ing to  Miles.  "I  'm  a  villain.  You  heard  it. 
That 's  good  for  a  hundred  pounds  any  day 
before  a  jury,  if  it 's  not  proved." 

"Brazen  thief!" 

"Me— a  thief?" 

"Yes,  you,  your 

"Defamation  of  character  in  its  harshest 
form.  Anywhere  from  one  fifty  to  three 
hundred.  Go  on,  madam,  go  on." 

"Serpent!" 

"Doubtful  appellation — say  twenty-five 
quid,"  said  Sycamore,  with  a  pencil  noting 
the  statement  on  his  writing  tablet. 

"Cut-purse,  and  midnight  robber!" 


94        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"One  moment — robber!    Yes,  madam?" 

"Crawling  under  false  pretenses  into  a 
virtuous  home!" 

"Virtuous  home!"  Writing.  "Prosecu- 
tion will  not  deny  the  home  is  virtuous,  but 
will  dispute  the  crawling.  I  rode  here.  Con- 
tinue, madam." 

"You  shameless  liar,  saying  you  had  in 
prospect  seven  hundred  a  year!" 

"I  can  prove  that  I  had.  Shameless  liar, 
I  think  you  said?  Quite  so."  He  added  it 
to  the  list  on  his  tablet.  "Universally  recog- 
nized as  a  phrase  provocative  of  assault. 
Madam,  be  thankful  you  are  not  a  man,  and 
are  thus  safe  from  my  just  fury.  Proceed, 
madam !" 

"Your  fury!    You  cowardly  cat!" 

"Ah,  that 's  a  new  term.  Value  uncertain. 
It  may  form  a  precedent.  Sycamore  versus 
Chaffers — 'cowardly  cat'  rated  by  intelligent 
jury  at  fifteen  pounds,  let  us  say.  You 
were  about  to  remark,  Miss  Chaffers?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        95 

"I  was  about  to  remark  that  I  have 
learned,  since  I  saw  you,  all  about  your  deep 
duplicity." 

"Duplicity?  Thanks.  Admirable  word, 
imputing  sneaking  dishonesty.  Anything 
more?" 

"I  scorn  your  contemptible  attentions." 

"And  refuse  to  marry  me?" 

"Most  assuredly  I  do." 

Sycamore  snapped  shut  his  tablets  and 
sighed  deeply. 

"How  prone  is  the  lay  mind  to  exaggera- 
tion of  expression !  You  should  never  enter 
into  a  discussion  of  this  sort,  madam,  with- 
out a  solicitor  by  your  side,  and  should  use 
no  term  unsanctioned  by  him.  Madam, 
you  have  stirred  me  to  the  depths  of  my 
nature." 

"You  mean  scoundrel!" 

Hastily  Sycamore  pulled  out  his  tablets 
again,  and  made  an  entry. 

"Scoundrel !     Tut-tut-tut-tut !    Probably 


96        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

the  most  costly  word  in  our  language.  See 
Bayles  versus  Johnson.  Yes,  madam?" 

"You  thought  I  had  no  protector!" 

"The  law  protects  us  all,  madam.  Yes, 
you  '11  find  that  to  be  the  case." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

Sycamore  struck  a  dramatic  attitude, 
hand  thrust  into  the  bosom  of  his  coat. 

"You  have  wounded  a  tender  heart, 
madam;  you  have  imputed  to  me  the  basest 
of  motives,  madam;  you  have  made  use  of 
appellations  of  contempt  and  calumny, 
madam,  whose  seriousness  will  be  more  fully 
explained  by  your  solicitor  when  you  repeat 
them  to  his  shuddering  ears,  madam." 

"You  are  a  shuddering  ass,  sir!"  retorted 
Selina,  scornfully. 

Sycamore  hurriedly  abandoned  his  statu- 
esque pose  to  make  another  note. 

"That 's  something  new,"  he  commented. 
"Another  precedent,  by  the  Chancellor! 
This  will  be  a  celebrated  case.  Is  an  ass  that 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER        97 

shudders  worse  than  one  that  maintains  an 
immovable  calm?  That 's  a  point  for  the 
jury.  I  think  so;  I  think  so." 

"And  yet — and  yet — "  faltered  Selina, 
wavering  perceptibly,  "if  you  could  convince 
me  't  was  not  avarice  that  tempted  you — if 
you  could  prove  you  were  not  a  mere  sordid 
fortune  hunter,  how  willingly  would  I  take 
you  back  into  my  favor." 

"Oh,  come  now,  madam,  you  are  not  to 
think  you  can  mitigate  damages  by  backing 
water  in  that  fashion.  Miles,  leave  us.  You 
have  heard  enough." 

"More  than  enough,"  commented  Miles, 
obeying  willingly. 

"Perhaps  Lord  Brandon  misjudged  you," 
mused  Selina. 

"Did  he  say  anything  libelous?" 

"No;  he  told  me  the  seven  hundred 
was  mine,  and  not  yours.  You  did  lead 
me  to  believe  it  was  yours,  did  n't  you, 
Humble?" 


98        LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"As  there  are  no  witnesses  present,  I 
admit,  entirely  without  prejudice,  that  per- 
haps you  were  justified  in  coming  to  such  a 
conclusion." 

"But,  Humble,  trusting  hearts  are  more 
than  gold  mines,  are  they  not,  after  all?" 

"Well,  Selina,  the  value  I  have  known  set 
on  trusting  hearts  has  been  entirely  within 
the  law  courts,  and  before  a  susceptible  jury. 
I  am  bound  to  state  they  are  rated  somewhat 
higher  than  the  average  gold  mine  of  the 
city." 

"Will  you  forgive  me  for  my  seeming 
distrust  of  you?" 

Sycamore  reflected.  The  law  is  uncertain 
in  the  matter  of  damages,  and  a  thousand  a 
year  in  the  hand  is  better  than  five  hundred 
in  the  bush,  with  costs  deducted. 

"I  will  forgive  you,  Selina,"  he  said,  mag- 
nanimously. 

"Oh,  Humble,"  breathed  Selina,  and  em- 
braced him,  but,  as  on  a  previous  occasion, 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER         99 

the  interruption  of  a  third  party  caused  a 
speedy  separation. 

"One  is  never  certain  of  a  moment's  peace 
in  this  house,"  grumbled  Miss  Chaffers,  but 
she  allowed  her  face  to  betray  no  annoyance 
as  Lady  Eleanor  entered,  followed  by  Miles. 

"Mr.  Sycamore,  I  have  been  looking  for 
you  everywhere,"  said  her  ladyship. 

"All  the  ladies  are  after  me  to-night," 
murmured  Sycamore  aside,  but  he  said  aloud, 
very  respectfully: 

"Madam,  I  am  at  your  service." 

"You  brought  certain  papers  with  you 
from  London,  and  are  doubtless  well  aware 
of  their  purport.  Are  they  deeds  of  sale?" 

"Well,  madam,  it  is  not  customary  for  a 
practitioner  to  divulge  a  client's  business. 
You  should  ask  Lord  Brandon  anything 
you — " 

"You  are  no  practitioner,  and  Lord  Bran- 
don is  not  your  client.  Are  they  deeds  of 
sale?" 


100      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Madam,  you  embarrass  me;  still,  I  sup- 
pose there  is  no  real  secret  about  the  docu- 
ment. It  is  merely  an  agreement  of  sale, 
which,  when  Lord  Brandon  signs  it,  com- 
pletes a  bargain  made  by  my  master  with 
another  client.  The  Brandon  estate  is  then 
sold  for  two  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand 
pounds  twelve  shillings  and  tenpence,  as 
valued  by  commissioners  duly  appointed, 
their  estimate  accepted  in  advance  by  both 
parties." 

"Has  Lord  Brandon  signed  the  agree- 
ment?" 

"Not  yet,  madam.  It  is  for  that  I  am 
waiting.  I  must  to  London  with  it  to-night, 
and  my  horse  is  ready." 

"Very  well.  Wait  for  Lord  Brandon  in 
the  library.  I  must  see  him  first,  and  as  I 
wish  to  see  him  alone,  perhaps  you  will  leave 
me  here,  Aunt  Selina." 

"You  are  never  going  to  persuade  him 
not  to  sell,  I  hope,  Eleanor?"  Miss  Chaffers 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       101 

asked,  in  some  alarm.  "Don't  be  selfish. 
Remember,  I  get  seven  hundred  a  year 
under  this  bargain." 

"You  are  certain  of  your  seven  hundred, 
Aunt  Selina,  whatever  happens.  Leave  me, 
please,"  and  as  they  obeyed,  she  turned  to 
Miles.  "Tell  Lord  Brandon  I  wish  to  speak 
with  him." 

"I  cannot,  my  lady.  His  lordship  ordered 
me  not  to  disturb  him  on  any  account." 

"His  orders  did  not  refer  to  me.  Do  as 
I  bid  you." 

"Pardon  me,  my  lady;  I  dare  not." 

"This  is  absurd.  Stand  aside.  I  will  call 
him  myself." 

"Indeed,  my  lady,  I  must  not  allow  any 
one  to  enter.  His  lordship  was  most  par- 
ticular; but  I  '11  venture  to  take  in  a  note, 
if  you  let  me  have  it  half  an  hour  from  now." 

"No ;  I  shall  await  him  in  the  library.  Tell 
him  I  am  there,  and  must  see  him  as  soon 
as  he  comes  out." 


102      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"I  will,  my  lady." 

Left  alone  in  the  room,  Miles  went  to  the 
door,  opened  it  softly,  then  beckoned  to 
Sophia,  who  lingered  outside. 

"Is  the  way  clear,  Miles?"  she  whispered. 

"Yes,  yes,  my  dear ;  an'  a  time  I  've  'ad 
a-gettin'  rid  of  'em.  Lady  Eleanor  would 
see  'is  lordship,  but  I  balked  'er.  'Ave  ye 
got  the  will?" 

Instead  of  answering,  Sophia  issued  her 
commands. 

"Now,  Miles,"  she  ordered,  "tell  his  lord- 
ship that  a  lady  wants  to  see  him,  most  par- 
ticular. That  '11  fetch  him.  When  you  Ve 
brought  in  his  lordship,  go  out  by  that  door," 
— she  pointed  to  the  one  through  which  she 
had  entered, — "and  wait  on  the  other  side. 
Allow  no  one  to  interrupt  us — you  under- 
stand?" 

"Yes,  my  dear." 

He  passed  through  the  heavily  curtained 
doors  that  led  to  the  dining  room,  while 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       103 

Sophia  walked  up  and  down  in  agitation, 
talking  to  herself. 

"I  must  make  no  mistake.  Dear  me,  how 
my  heart  flutters!  Two  thousand  pounds, 
and  the  Brandon  Arms,  my  lord,  and  there  's 
the  parchment  to  burn.  What  if  he  takes 
it  from  me,  and  burns  it  before  my  eyes,  and 
refuses  to  give  me  anything?  I  'd  proclaim 
him  from  the  housetops!  But  then,  who 
would  believe  me?  No,  he  won't  do  that. 
He  dare  not  take  the  risk!  Ah,  here  they 
come!" 


CHAPTER  V 

SOPHIA  stood  with  hands  behind  her, 
the  right  one  clasping  the  will.     The 
curtains  parted,  showing  Lord  Brandon,  who 
grasped  them  high  on  each  side  of  him,  sway- 
ing slightly,  and  steadying  himself. 

"I  thought  you  said  it  was  Lady  Eleanor, 
fellow!"  he  reprimanded,  turning  to  Miles. 
"No,  my  lord,  I  said  'a  lady.' " 
"Very  well;  very  well.     You  wish  to  see 
me,  madam?    I — I  regret — that  I  have  not 
the  pleasure  of  knowing  you." 

"I  am  maid  to  Lady  Eleanor,  sir." 
"Ah,  yes.    Pardon  me  for  not  recog-cog- 
nizing  you.    I  am  most  stupid  in  recalling 
faces.     Her  ladyship  has  sent  a  message, 
perhaps?" 

104 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       105 

"No,  my  lord.  I  wished  to  see  you  on  my 
own  account." 

Brandon  bowed  politely. 

"Charmed,  I  'm  sure.  What  can  I  do  for 
you,  madam?" 

"My  lord,"  said  Sophia,  hurriedly,  "Miles 
and  I  are  to  be  married,  and — " 

"Delighted  to  hear  it.  I  con-congratulate 
you  both,  'pon  m'  honor.  I  shall  remember 
you  on  the  wedding  day,  but  you  must  let 
me  know  the  date.  And  now,  miss,  if  you  '11 
excuse  me — guests  waitin',  don't  you  know. 
A  happy  wedding  to  you,  and  many  of  'em 
— you  know  what  I  mean." 

"My  lord,  't  is  more  serious  than  you  think. 
I  beg-" 

"Oh,  I  know,  I  know.  Of  course  it 's 
serious.  You  Ve  thought  well  before  tak- 
ing the  plunge,  I  hope.  But  nothing  venture, 
nothing  win,  eh?  'Course  not.  Blessing  on 
you  both.  Mind  you  let  me  know  the  date. 
Good  night!" 


106      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"My  lord,  if  I  can  save  you  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  will  you  give  Miles  and  me 
the  Brandon  Arms  and  two  thousand  pounds 
in  coin?" 

Brandon  checked  himself  as  he  turned  to 
leave. 

"What?"  he  exclaimed. 

"My  lord,  you  do  not  own  the  Brandon 
estate." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  do.  I  haven't  signed  the 
agreement  yet.  To-morrow  I  shan't  own  it, 
though,  but  I  '11  have  the  money." 

"My  lord,  you  do  not  understand.  The 
late  Lord  Brandon,  your  father,  left  a 
legal  will,  and  you  are  cut  off  with  a 
shilling." 

Suddenly  sobered,  Brandon  steadied  him- 
self, looking  earnestly  at  the  girl. 

"My  -  -  father  —  left  —  a—  will?"  he  re- 
peated, slowly. 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

"And  cut  me  off?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       107 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

Brandon  returned  to  his  former  place  near 
the  fire. 

"Oh,  this  is  interesting!  My  guests  can 
wait.  Why  was  the  will  you  speak  of  not 
acted  upon?" 

"It  could  not  be  found  after  your  father's 
death." 

"I  see.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  have 
been  fortunate  enough  to  discover  the  miss- 
ing document?" 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

"I  thought  so.    Where  is  it?" 

"If  your  lordship  will  give  me  your 
word — " 

"Where  is  the  will?" 

"I  trust  to  your  lordship's  honor  to — " 

"Give  me  the  will." 

"My  lord,  you  must — " 

"Give  me  the  will,  girl,"  demanded  Bran- 
don, sternly,  advancing  a  step  toward  her. 
The  girl  handed  him  the  document.  He 


108      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

opened  it,  and  read,  murmuring  half  aloud 
fragments  here  and  there. 

"Last  Will  and  Testament — being  of 
sound  mind — all  my  possessions — real  and 
personal — my  beloved  niece,  Eleanor  Beau- 
mont— Charles  Wynchcraft,  Lord  Brandon. 

"Have  you  read  this?"  he  asked  sharply, 
turning  to  Sophia. 

"Ye — yes,  my  lord." 

"Does  your  mistress — does  Lady  Eleanor 
know  of  its  existence?" 

"No,  my  lord.  Nobody  knows  of  it  but 
me  and  you.  There  's  the  fire  behind  you, 
and  a  moment  serves  for  the  burning.  I  '11 
say  nothing,  trusting  your  lordship  to  do  the 
right  thing  by  me  and  Miles." 

"Why  did  you  not  give  this  parchment  to 
Lady  Eleanor?" 

"Oh,  my  lord,  I  could  not  think  of  such  a 
thing.  I  could  not  cheat  your  lordship  out 
of  your  just  due." 

"I  see.    How  came  you  to  find  the  will?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       109 

"I  was  rummaging,  my  lord,  and  hap- 
pened on  it  between  the  leaves  of  a  big  book 
in  the  library." 

"I  daresay  you  are  good  at  rummaging. 
You  showed  it  to  no  one?" 

"Oh,  no,  my  lord.  I  brought  it  direct  to 
you,  for  I  knew  you  would  do  the  right  thing 
by  me." 

"That  I  will  not." 

"You  will  not?" 

"The  right  thing  would  be  to  deliver  you 
into  custody,  but,  as  you  are  a  woman,  I  will 
not  do  the  right  thing.  You  may  go." 

"Surely  you  are  jesting,  my  lord." 

"I  never  was  more  serious." 

"Sir,  you  cannot  trifle  with  me.  If  you 
think  to  cheat  me  because  I  was  so  foolish 
as  to  give  you  the  will,  I  shall  proclaim  you 
from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other." 

"Do  so,  hussy.  Your  proclamation  will 
help  me  in  my  profession.  It  will  advertise 
me." 


110      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"You  may  scoff,  but  I  warn  you  the  so- 
licitors in  London  know  that  will  was 
written." 

"Naturally,  because  they  wrote  it." 

Intent  on  his  own  thoughts,  Lord  Brandon 
did  not  notice  the  parting  of  the  curtains, 
and  was  unaware  of  Woodward's  entrance 
until  the  latter  spoke,  somewhat  uncertainly. 

"I  say,  Charlie,  wha'  the  devil  d  'ye  mean 
by  treating  ladies  an' — an'  gennlemen  this 
fashion?  'S — insult.  Deserting  festive 
board,  an'  all  that,  Charlie." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Woodward,  and  also 
that  of  the  ladies.  I  have  business  which  will 
not  wait." 

"Hang — hang  business  when  festive  bowl 
flowish.  Hang — " 

Mrs.  Lessingham  pushed  him  aside  with- 
out ceremony,  and  entered,  Miss  Barsanti 
following.  They  stared  at  Lord  Brandon 
in  amazement. 

"What's  wrong,  Charlie?     You  look  as 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       111 

if  you  had  seen  a  ghost,"  cried  Mrs.  Les- 
singham. 

"I  Ve  not  seen  a  ghost,  Mrs.  Lessingham, 
but  one  has  just  dealt  me  an  unexpected 
blow.  I  confess  the  impact  has  staggered 
me." 

"It  has  sobered  you,  Charlie.  It  must 
have  been  a  right-hander  from  the  shoulder." 

"It  was,"  agreed  Brandon,  laughing.  "A 
right  hand  that  held  a  pen.  Didn't  you 
know  that  the  pen  is  the  sharpest  stiletto? 
But  no,  I  cannot  say  that  in  your  presence. 
The  stiletto  that  plays  havoc  with  our  hearts 
is  a  woman's  eyes,  Miss  Barsanti." 

"Thanks,  Lord  Charlie,"  said  Miss  Bar- 
santi, curtseying  deeply.  "And  is  this,"  she 
indicated  Sophia  by  a  gesture,  "the  woman 
who  has  dealt  the  blow?" 

Sophia  tossed  her  head. 

"Indeed,  I  'm  better  than  the  likes  of  you, 
Miss  Impudence,  and  if  I  open  my  mouth, 
and  tell—" 


112   LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"That  is  exactly  what  you  shall  not  do," 
interrupted  Brandon,  sharply,  "or  you  will 
sleep  in  prison  to-night.  Stand  you  there, 
and  keep  your  tongue  quiet." 

"Oh,  what  a  cruel  penalty  for  a  woman," 
murmured  Mrs.  Lessingham. 

"If  you  will  all  retire  to  the  dining  hall  for 
a  few  minutes,"  requested  Brandon,  "I  will 
rejoin  you  when  this  business  is  settled." 

"Well,  of  all  the  proposals!"  ejaculated 
Miss  Barsanti.  "Are  we  your  guests,  or  are 
we  not  ?  Who  ever  heard  of  the  like  ?  Here 
are  we  on  the  edge  of  a  scandal  in  high  life ; 
I  know  it ;  I  feel  it  in  the  air.  There  stands 
a  woman  threatened  with  prison.  Here 
stands  Lord  Charlie  frightened  sober.  En- 
ter the  Drury  Lane  Company,  and  he  asks 
us  to  go,  if  you  please !" 

"Inhospitable!  None — none  owus  go!" 
stammered  Woodward. 

"Very  well;  stay  you  here,  if  you  wish. 
I  need  some  witnesses.  Miles!"  he  called 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       113 

peremptorily,  and  the  servant  promptly 
obeyed  the  summons. 

"Tell  Sycamore  to  come  to  me,  and  bring 
his  papers  with  him.  Get  me  pens  and  ink. 
Ask  Lady  Eleanor  if  she  will  be  good  enough 
to  give  me  five  minutes." 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

"Charlie,"  said  Mrs.  Lessingham,  "y°u 
make  me  shiver  with  your  precision.  You  re- 
mind me  of  Garrick  when  he  is  preparing 
a  tragedy  for  the  stage.  I  hope  you  are  not 
bringing  on  actors  for  some  dismal  denoue- 
ment?" 

"No;  I  'm  rehearsing  a  comedy.  Indeed, 
I  'm  not  sure  but  it 's  a  farce." 

"Good;  do  we  take  a  part  in  it?" 

"Only  as  witnesses." 

"Hurrah!  We're  the  blessed  audience," 
exclaimed  Woodward. 

"That 's  a  new  part  for  us,"  remarked 
Miss  Barsanti,  "and  saves  the  bother  of 
study." 


114      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Miles  returned  almost  at  once,  ushering  in 
Lady  Eleanor,  who  was  followed  by  Hum- 
ble Sycamore.  Acting  on  his  master's 
instructions,  Miles  brought  forward  a  table, 
placed  on  it  pens  and  ink,  and  set  a  chair 
before  it. 

Woodward  bowed  low  to  Lady  Eleanor. 

"Delighted,  madam,  and  your  most  obe- 
dient servant,"  he  said,  rather  thickly.  "May 
I  introduce  your  ladyship  to  most  dis- 
tinguished company?" 

"Woodward,  if  you  will  permit  me,  I  will 
do  the  honors  of  my  house,"  announced  Lord 
Brandon,  very  quietly.  "Lady  Eleanor — 
Miss  Barsanti.  Miss  Barsanti — Lady 
Eleanor  Beaumont,  my  cousin.  It  is  no 
small  part  of  the  glory  of  Mr.  Garrick,  Lady 
Eleanor,  that  Miss  Barsanti  is  one  of  his 
most  capable  co-workers.  Lady  Eleanor — 
Mrs.  Lessingham,  also  of  Drury  Lane.  My 
friend  Woodward  you  have  already  met. 
Do  not  think  harshly  of  us  if  we  seem  f  rivo- 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       115 

lous.  We  play  our  little  parts,  and  vanish, 
leaving  no  harm  done,  satisfied  if  our  acting 
seems  genuine  while  we  occupy  the  light.  I 
have  now  to  sign  an  agreement  of  sale,  that 
this  good  man,  Sycamore,  may  speed  upon 
his  way.  I  thought  it  right,  Lady  Eleanor, 
that  when  a  man  signs  away  his  patrimony 
his  next-of-kin  might  properly  witness  the 
ceremony,  therefore  I  begged  the  favor  of 
your  presence.  Sycamore,  are  the  papers 
ready?" 

Sycamore  spread  them  on  the  table. 

"Here  you  are,  my  lord.  You  sign  along 
that  penciled  line;  the  witnesses  here." 

Brandon  seated  himself  and  took  up  a  pen. 
"Right,  good  scrivener." 

"Lord  Brandon,  I  ask  you,  for  the  last 
time,  not  to  sign."  Lady  Eleanor  put  her 
request  very  earnestly. 

"Much  as  it  distresses  me,  fair  cousin,  to 
displease  you,  I  am  bound  in  honor  to  sign 
this  document,  unless  there  is  some  stronger 


116      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

reason  to  urge  against  it  than  that  of  senti- 
ment." 

"I  have  a  stronger  reason.  Do  not  force 
me  to  use  it.  I  am  resolved  that  instrument 
shall  not  be  signed,  or  if  signed,  I  am  de- 
termined to  nullify  it." 

"Your  reason  must  be  powerful.  Explain 
it,  I  beg  of  you." 

Eleanor  remained  silent,  her  head 
bowed,  and  eyes  shaded  with  one  hand. 
Brandon,  his  pen  poised  in  midair,  awaited 
her  answer. 

"If  ye  know  any  just  cause  or  im-im-im- 
pediment,  I  charge  ye  both —  Gad,  that 's 
the  marriage  service !  Let 's  marry  the  cul- 
prits!" cried  the  jovial  Woodward,  still 
under  the  influence  of  wine.  He  had  re- 
ceived no  such  shock  as  had  sobered  his 
friend. 

Mrs.  Lessingham  turned  on  him  sharply 
with  a  look  of  stern  rebuke  that  penetrated 
even  his  cloudy  perceptions. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       117 

"Hush!  We  are  playing  at  cross  purposes 
here,"  she  whispered. 

"Well,  madam?"  prompted  Brandon,  still 
watching  his  cousin. 

"Are  you  resolved  to  sign?"  questioned 
Eleanor,  her  voice  very  low. 

"Resolved!"  was  the  decisive  answer. 

"Then  the  fate  of  the  stubborn  overtake 
you.  Sophia,  go  to  my  room,  get  my  keys, 
unlock  the  lowest  drawer  in  my  cabinet,  and 
bring  the  parchment  you  will  find  there." 

Hurriedly  the  maid  went  from  the  room. 
Brandon  put  down  his  pen,  and  rose,  facing 
Lady  Eleanor. 

"Does  the  parchment  you  send  for  check- 
mate me?" 

"Most  completely,  sir." 

"Nothing  can  do  that  but  a  will,  legally 
worded,  duly  signed  and  witnessed,  leaving 
this  property  to  some  other  than  me." 

"You  have  described  the  instrument,  Lord 
Brandon." 


118      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Good,  and  well  played,"  said  Brandon, 
still  quietly,  but  with  a  grim  smile  on  his  lips. 
"Miles,  draw  back  this  table,  and  clear  it  of 
its  useless  paraphernalia.  And  Miles,  pur- 
sue the  flying  Sophia,  else  you  are  like  to 
miss  a  wife.  She  told  me  you  were  to  marry. 
After  her,  man,  and  don't  stand  gaping 
there.  She  is  at  this  moment  footing  it  down 
the  lane.  Speed,  or  your  Atalanta  is  lost, 
for  your  golden  apples  are  gone." 

"If  gold  is  going,  I  follow  it,"  said  Miles, 
and  was  as  good  as  his  word. 

"My  maid  is  in  my  room,  gone  to  do  my 
bidding!"  cried  Eleanor. 

"That  she  is  not,  dear  cousin.  She  has 
taken  flight,  and  you  '11  never  see  her  again. 
Glad  was  she  to  get  your  order  to  go.  She 
is  a  good  servant,  and  forestalls  her  orders. 
What  you  told  her  to  do  a  moment  since,  she 
did  half  an  hour  ago.  Here  is  the  will,"  and 
he  produced  the  parchment  from  an  inner 
pocket. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       119 

Eleanor  made  an  impulsive  movement 
forward. 

"Give  it  to  me!" 

"Not  so.  I  shall  put  it  in  safer  custody. 
Sycamore,  is  your  horse  fed  and  saddled?" 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

"Are  you  ready  for  the  road?  Then,  my 
bold  highwayman,  get  you  toward  London. 
Take  this  to  your  master,  and  tell  him  the 
missing  will  is  found.  Register  it,  replevin 
it,  habeas  corpus  it,  or  do  whatever  your 
knavish  trade  finds  necessary,  and  don't  for- 
get your  fees.  Mount,  legal  freebooter,  and 
away.  Off  with  you!" 

Lady  Eleanor  sprang  forward  to  inter- 
cept the  clerk,  but  Brandon  stood  before  and 
stopped  her. 

"He  must  not  take  that  to  London,"  she 
protested. 

"Pardon,  madam,  but  he  must." 

"I  will  not  have  it  so.  The  property  is 
yours." 


120      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Not  a  stiver  of  it.  You  said  you  would 
stop  the  signing,  and  you  have  done  so,  but 
you  cannot  have  everything  your  own  way, 
Nell." 

Lady  Eleanor  recognized  that  here  at  last 
was  the  Brandon  spirit  she  had  been  so 
anxious  to  arouse,  and  knew,  too,  that  she 
could  not  prevail  against  it.  She  sank  into 
a  chair,  and  covered  her  face  with  her  hands. 
Mrs.  Lessingham  stepped  forward,  her  face 
grave  but  sympathetic. 

"Charlie,  does  it  mean  that,  after  all,  you 
have  nothing,  when  you  thought  a  fortune 
was  yours?" 

"Admirably  and  excellently  put,  dear 
Mrs.  Lessingham,"  assented  Brandon. 
"That  fact  has  sobered  even  Will,  here.  I 
am  without  a  roof,  so  let  us  from  under  this 
one.  The  Brandon  Arms  will  shelter  us 
to-night." 

"Are  you  so  utterly  bereft?" 

"Absolutely.      Most   excellent    audience, 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER      121 

you  catch  the  point  precisely.  Blessings  on 
such  an  audience,  say  I.  I  told  you  it  was  a 
farce — the  Farce  of  Brandon  Hall — for  one 
night  only.  And  so  for  the  road.  Away! 
Stand  not  upon  the  order  of  your  going, 
but  go  at  once." 

The  two  women  accepted  their  dismissal 
without  speaking,  but  Woodward  ap- 
proached Brandon  quite  steadily,  and  placed 
his  hand  on  the  other's  shoulder. 

"Charlie,  I  'm  sorry  for  you,  hugely  sorry. 
'Pon  my  word,  I  am." 

"For  me?  Nonsense,  Will,"  laughed 
Brandon.  "I'm  a  free  man,  I  tell  you.  Off 
with  you !  Sorry  for  me  ?  No  need  of  that, 
but — Dick  Sheridan!  Oh,  poor  Dick  Sheri- 
dan! Fortune  has  hit  you  below  the  belt." 

He  followed  Woodward  to  the  door, 
and  there  paused,  turning  with  a  sweeping 
bow  to  Eleanor. 

"Heiress  of  Brandon,  I  salute  you,"  he 
said,  with  a  courteous  sincerity  that  removed 


122      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

any   suspicion   of   exaggeration    from    his 
words.    "Hail,  and  farewell!" 

Then  he,  too,  passed  through  the  door- 
way, a  second  time  exiled  from  the  home  of 
his  ancestors. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THAT  section  of  St.  James's  Park  sur- 
rounding Rosamond's  Pond  was  an 
ideal  place  in  which  to  linger.  A  summer- 
house,  sheltered  by  a  thick  shrubbery,  yet 
open  to  the  lake,  held  a  comfortable  bench 
which  invited  rest  and  pleasant  meditation, 
and  the  banks  of  the  water  were  studded 
picturesquely  with  trees  that  afforded  seclu- 
sion without  shutting  away  the  sunlight. 
Lord  Brandon,  however,  leaning  on  the  rail- 
ing that  guarded  Rosamond's  Pond,  evinced 
no  appreciation  of  the  natural  beauties  about 
him,  and  the  impatient  manner  in  which  he 
flicked  at  the  herbage  with  his  cane  indicated 
a  state  of  mind  little  attuned  to  the  peace  of 
the  placid  water. 

"For  three  mornings  I  have  followed  her 

123 


124      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

here,"  he  said,  half  aloud,  "and  on  the  fourth, 
determined  to  come  to  closer  quarters,  it  will 
be  just  my  luck  if  she  stops  away." 

The  sound  of  approaching  footsteps 
brought  to  Brandon's  disconsolate  face  a 
flush  of  hope,  which  as  quickly  died  away 
when  he  recognized  Richard  Sheridan,  who 
seemed  to  be  in  high  good  spirits. 

"The  top  of  the  morning  to  you,  Lord 
Misanthrope!"  cried  the  newcomer,  cor- 
dially. "I  heard  the  sound  of  your  voice, 
Charlie.  What  are  you  doing?  Rehearsing 
or  soliloquizing?" 

"I  am  learning  my  part,  to  be  word  per- 
fect when  the  play  comes  on." 

"And  an  excellent  place  you  have  chosen, 
Charlie.  Bishop  Warburton  said  that  this 
spot  was  consecrated  to  disastrous  love  and 
elegiac  poetry.  Are  you  courting  the  elegiac 
Muse,  or  waiting  for  some  more  modern  and 
fashionable  goddess?" 

"Neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  Dick,  but 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       125 

to  match  your  quotation  from  the  bishop,  I 
give  you  one  from  Pope,  who,  in  his  'Rape 
of  the  Lock,'  says: 

'This  the  blest  lover  shall  for  Venus  take, 
And  send  up  vows  from  Rosamonda's  Lake.' 

So,  my  volatile  and  amorous  friend,  if  you 
are  here  to  keep  a  tryst,  I  will  leave  the 
coast  of  Rosamonda  clear  for  you." 

"Charlie,  your  insinuation  is  most  unjust," 
laughed  Sheridan,  easily.  "There 's  no 
more  faithful  benedict  in  town  than  I.  No, 
I  came  to  find  my  melancholy  Lord  of 
Brandon." 

"And  how  did  you  know  I  was  here?" 
"Still  incredulous?  Why,  by  the  easiest 
method  in  the  world.  I  called  to  see  you  at 
your  apartments,  and  your  man  informed 
me  you  were  much  depressed  these  last  few 
days,  and  had  taken  to  rambling  in  St. 
James's  Park.  He  feared  the  Pond  might 
claim  you,  as  it  had  done  so  many  others  of 


126      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

the  dejected,  but  I  told  him  his  master  was 
too  good  a  judge  of  wine  to  waste  himself 
on  so  much  insipid  water,  and  further  in- 
formed him  I  had  news  to  cheer  you,  so 
the  honest  fellow  bade  me  Godspeed,  and 
here  I  am.  See  how  simple  a  tale  will 
put  you  down,  with  your  dark  hints  of 
trysts." 

"What  is  your  cheerful  news,  Sheridan?" 

"I  am  promised  the  money  for  certain." 

"How  much?" 

"Twenty  thousand  pounds." 

"Good  lord !  Has  Garrick  become  gener- 
ous in  his  old  age,  then?" 

"Oh,  Garrick  is  not  so  penurious  as  the 
gossips  pretend  he  is." 

"It  is  Garrick,  then?" 

"I  am  forbidden  to  say  whether  or  no.  I 
am  bound  to  secrecy." 

"Then  it  'a  not  Garrick?" 

"That 's  as  may  be.  I  have  given  my 
word.  I  must  not  blab,  even  to  you.  Truth 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       127 

to  tell,  I  do  not  know  myself  for  a  certainty 
who  the  generous  donor  is.  I  seem  to  have 
made  a  conquest.  The  main  thing  is  the 
gold,  and  once  my  hands  are  upon  it,  .the 
first  thousand  goes  to  you,  to  repay  the 
timely  loan  you  made  me  when  we  thought 
you  were  rich.  That  debt  is  weighing  on  my 
mind,  Brandon.  To-morrow  you  shall  have 
it,  unless  the  devil  stacks  the  cards  against 
me  once  more." 

"I  shall  be  glad  of  the  thousand  pounds, 
but  not  for  my  own  enrichment.    The  money 
will  not  be  in  my  possession  an  hour." 
"What,  is  the  heiress  in  town?" 
"Yes.     You  see,  I  took  the  money  from 
her  in  all  good  faith  when  I  thought  it  my 


own." 


"Does  the  sour  old  spinster  prove  close- 
fisted?    Has  she  pressed  for  payment?" 
"What  sour  old  spinster?" 
"The  heiress." 
"Why,   she   is   the  most  beautiful   and 


128      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

divine  creature  the  sun  ever  shone  on,  and 
scarce  twenty  yet." 

"Ah,  I  never  saw  her,  then." 

"You  saw  her  at  the  lawyer's  den  when 
first,  mistakenly,  I  went  to  claim  my  heri- 
tage." 

"The  lady  I  met  there,  who  I  understood 
was  your  relative,  seemed  nearer  twice 
twenty  than  the  even  score." 

"Oh,  that  was  Aunt  Selina.  'T  is  the 
other  I  mean." 

"I  do  not  remember  any  other." 

"Dick,  Dick,  where  were  your  eyes?" 

"I  fear,  Charlie,  they  were  gazing  in  the 
clouds  at  the  new  theater  we  were  to  build. 
I  was  living  in  the  future  rather  than  the 
present,  and  when  later  I  visited  Brandon 
Hall  I  saw  no  ladies  except  those  we  brought 
with  us  from  London." 

"My  cousin  entertains  rural  prejudices 
against  our  profession,  and  -although  I  did 
introduce  to  her  the  coterie  from  Drury 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       129 

Lane,  that  was  after  you  had  gone.  Do  you 
mean  to  tell  me  you  never  noticed  her  at 
Sharp  &  Clipper's  office?  Why,  I  certainly 
introduced  you  to  her." 

"I  recollect  no  introduction,  and  no  young 
lady  such  as  you  describe  so  eloquently," 
said  Sheridan  with  conviction. 

"Then  for  once,  Dick,  your  eye  for  beauty 
failed  you.  If  I  should  chance  to  meet  her 
to-day—" 

"You  have  not  met  he*r  yet?" 

"No ;  I  fear  my  difficulty  may  be  that  she 
will  refuse  the  money." 

"I  wish  I  could  imbue  my  creditors  with 
a  similar  reluctance !"  murmured  Sheridan. 

"What  I  was  about  to  say,"  went  on 
Brandon,  "is  this.  Am  I  safe  in  promising 
the  money  within  a  week?" 

"Take  my  advice,  and  promise  nothing 
till  we  have  the  gold  in  hand." 

"Ah,  you  are  not  sure  of  it?  Very  well; 
I  shall  not  mention  it.  I  thought  you  were 


130       LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

in  rather  an  exalted  frame  of  mind,  and  so 
became  certain  of  the  payment." 

"Exalted!  Yes;  I  can  think  of  nothing 
else;  and  it  elates  me,  so  I  sought  you  out. 
If  a  man  has  mirth  or  money,  let  him  share 
it  with  his  friend.  Mirth  to-day,  and  money 
to-morrow." 

"Let  us  trust  so." 

"Trust;  yes.  What  is  life  without  trust 
and  hope?  If  I  am  disappointed  again,  I 
shall  feel  like  throwing  myself  into  the  cold 
embrace  of  Rosamonda  here."  He  waved 
his  hand  toward  the  lake.  "But,  zounds, 
Charlie,  think  of  what  it  means  for  us  if 
everything  comes  right!  Drury  Lane  is 
ours,  then  fame  and  fortune.  Away  with 
doubt !  We  '11  believe  in  the  money  to-day, 
even  though  it  escape  our  clutch  to-morrow. 
Come,  Charlie,  let 's  walk  over  Constitution 
Hill,  and  revel  in  our  riches." 

"I  '11  come  to-morrow,  when  the  gold  's 
secure." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       131 

"But  you  Ve  no  appointment  here  with  a 
woman,  you  said." 

"I  have  not  spoken  to  a  woman  for  a 
month." 

"Perhaps  you  Ve  written  to  bespeak  her 
company?" 

"I  have  not  written  to  a  woman  for  a 
year." 

"Then  let's  to  Constitution  Hill.  Ah, 
here  comes  at  last  a  fitting  companion  for 
the  gloomy  prince,  whom  even  the  chink  of 
gold  can't  cheer.  Bowed  head,  slow  step, 
dejected  mien:  an  elegiac,  poetic  form, 
moving  slowly  toward  the  spot  of  disastrous 
love.  Ah,  Charlie,  Charlie,  and  for  the 
moment  I  believed  you !  Egad,  I  am  grow- 
ing old  and  good." 

Brandon  glanced  behind  him,  recognized 
Lady  Eleanor  Beaumont,  and  shook  Sheri- 
dan briskly  by  the  hand. 

"Good-by,  my  friend,  good-by.  Your 
news  has  quite  buoyed  me  up,  so  now  adieu. 


132       LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

I  '11  see  you  in  the  morning.  I  shall  do 
myself  the  honor  to  call  at  Orchard  Street, 
and  pay  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Sheridan. 
Adieu,  God  bless  you." 

"Ah,  Charlie,  Charlie,  no  tryst,  says  you!" 

"I  gave  you  my  word  of  honor  there  was 
none.  If  you  doubt  it,  I  will  run  you 
through." 

"No,  no,  in  heaven's  name!  Where  metal 
is  concerned,  't  is  gold,  and  not  steel,  I  yearn 
for.  To  be  called  out  by  the  best  swords- 
man in  London,  on  the  very  eve  of  a 
fortune?  That  were  an  anti-climax  in- 
deed. I  'd  refuse,  Charlie.  But  I  'm  no 
marplot.  Good-by  to  you."  Then  he 
shook  his  head.  "Oh,  Charlie,  Charlie!"  he 
said,  laughing,  and  walked  away. 

There  was  no  answering  mirth  in  the  eyes 
that  watched  his  retreat. 

"By  the  plague,"  muttered  Brandon,  "I 
never  before  knew  Dick  so  tiresome."  Then 
he  dismissed  Sheridan  from  his  mind,  and 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       133 

turned  to  greet  Lady  Eleanor,  who,  ab- 
sorbed in  her  own  meditations,  had  not  seen 
him. 

"Good  morning,  Eleanor." 

At  the  sound  of  his  voice  the  girl  looked 
up  quickly,  and  faced  him  with  a  little  gasp 
of  astonishment. 

"Oh! — I  was  not  expecting  to  meet  any 
one!"  she  said.  Recovering  her  self-posses- 
sion, she  advanced,  holding  out  her  hand. 

"They  say  that  every  one  meets  every  one 
sooner  or  later  in  London,"  remarked  Bran- 
don, seeking  for  an  easy  conversational 
opening. 

"Is  our  meeting  by  chance,  then?" 

"No ;  I  was  waiting  for  you." 

"Waiting  for  me?" 

"Yes ;  I  have  been  here  this  hour  or  more." 

"How  did  you  know  I  was  in  London?" 

"As  every  one  meets  every  one  in  London, 
it  naturally  follows  that  every  one  must 
some  time  come  to  London.  If  Eleanor 


134      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

came  to  London,  it  was  but  natural  she 
should  inhabit  her  own  house.  If  any  one 
in  London  were  interested  in  Eleanor,  he 
need  but  to  pass  that  house  each  morning, 
when  the  windows  silently  would  tell  him 
whether  she  were  in  residence  or  not." 

"How  charmingly  courteous  of  him,  and 
how  indefatigable,"  said  Eleanor,  laughing 
a  little.  "I  need  not  tell  you,  then,  that  I 
arrived  early  in  the  week." 

"As  for  three  mornings  I  have  wandered 
in  your  neighborhood  through  this  park,  the 
information  is  superfluous,  Nell." 

"And  why  was  I  kept  so  long  in  ignorance 
of  the  great  favor  bestowed  upon  me?  I 
thought  only  royalty  claimed  the  silent 
attendance  of  one  so  highly  placed  as  the 
Earl  of  Brandon." 

"There  are  always  two  Queens  in  Eng- 
land, Nelly,  when  a  man  's  in  love." 

"What  reply  do  you  expect  to  such  a 
remark  as  that?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER      135 

"The  answer  is  *yes>'  that  three-lettered 
word  which  proves  that  luck  's  in  odd  num- 
bers. 'T  is  the  only  word  in  the  lovers' 
dictionary,  you  know." 

"How  should  I  know?  The  language 
would  appear  to  be  very  limited." 

"In  its  limitation  lies  its  delight,  and  that 
word  is  often  spoken  by  the  eyes  long  before 
the  lips  utter  it.  It  is  a  magic  word,  like 
a  conjurer's  packet,  from  which  all  the 
delights  of  earth  may  be  produced, — yes, 
and  those  of  heaven  borrowed  to  make  up 
full  measure." 

"Your  mornings  in  the  park  would  seem 
to  be  employed  in  composing  gallant 
speeches.  St.  James's  Park  must  be  an 
inspiring  place." 

"Park?  'T  is  no  park.  The  moment 
that  you  set  foot  in  it,  it  is  the  Garden  of 
Eden." 

"With  a  silent  Eve,"  she  laughed.  "That 
were  Paradise  indeed.  It  required  three 


136      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

days  to  break  the  spell  and  unloosen  her 
tongue." 

"It  required  courage,  Nelly.  My  first 
progenitor  in  the  Garden  was  so  quickly 
thrust  out  that  I  dared  not  venture  till  now." 

"Well,  your  belated  valor  appears  to  have 
wrought  no  evil  consequence.  If  this  is  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  your  words  have  proved 
no  magician's  incantation  to  waft  it  into 
space." 

"No;  they  have  been  an  open  sesame  to 
reveal  new  wonders." 

"Your  visions  are  so  ethereal,  Charles, 
that  you  make  me  ashamed  to  mention  my 
more  earthly  dream.  Do  you  know  why  I 
come  here  every  morning?" 

"I  can  guess.  Your  hatred  of  London 
drives  you  to  even  a  semblance  of  the 
country." 

"Semblance  of  the  country?  Fie  upon 
you.  Where  is  your  Garden  of  Eden  now?" 

"I  said  when  you  were  here,  Eleanor. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       137 

When  you  are  gone,  't  is  but  St.  James's 
Park  again,  and  this  lake  not  the  clear 
waters  of  Damascus  eulogized  in  Scripture, 
but  merely  Rosamond's  Pond  sung  of  by  the 
courtly  poet  Waller — the  lake  of  disastrous 
love,  they  call  it." 

"I  do  not  hate  London,"  protested  Elea- 
nor, going  back  to  his  former  remark. 

"You  once  said  you  did,  with  a  scorn  that 
tingles  in  my  memory,  for  I  was  part  of 
your  contempt." 

"Ah,  I  was  overwrought  when  I  said  that. 
I  fear  I  have  some  excuses  to  make,  and 
some  misunderstandings  to  clear  away.  But 
London  fascinates  me.  I  wander  about  it 
at  night  like  the  Sultan  in  the  Arabian 
Tales,  and  regard  it  with  ever  increasing 
wonder." 

"Wander  about  at  night  ?  Who  goes  with 
you?" 

"That  would  spoil  the  enchantment;  I 
wander  alone." 


138      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Alone!  Merciful  heaven !  Eleanor,  you 
cannot  mean  that!" 

"Why  not?" 

"Why  not?  Alone  in  the  streets  of  Lon- 
don at  night  ?  Nell,  you  amaze  me !" 

"You  speak  as  if  I  had  penetrated  an 
African  jungle." 

"The  deadliest  African  jungle  is  as  Bran- 
don village  high  street  compared  with  night 
in  London.  Lady  Eleanor  Beaumont  stroll- 
ing alone  through  the  darkened  streets  of 
London!  Good  God,  you  must  not  do  that 
again !" 

"Must  not?" 

"No;  of  course  you  must  not.  I  forbid 
it." 

"I  do  not  recognize  your  right  to  say  what 
I  shall  or  shall  not  do,  in  that  peremptory 
fashion." 

"I  am  the  head  of  our  house,  and  I  ask 
you  never  again  to  go  into  the  streets  of 
London  unprotected." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       139 

Eleanor  drew  herself  up  in  anger,  but 
almost  at  once  burst  out  laughing. 

"Charles,  do  you  know  why  I  forgive  you 
for  your  sudden  presumption?"  she  asked, 
with  no  trace  of  resentment.  "For  the 
moment  you  were  a  boy  again — the  boy 
who  tyrannized  over  me  on  the  shores  of 
Brandon  Water.  'You  shall  not!'  you  would 
say,  and  stamp  your  foot.  I  fear  I  spoiled 
you,  Charlie,  by  being  your  willing  little 
slave,  fetching  and  carrying  at  your  com- 
mand." 

"I  was  an  unmitigated  little  beast." 

"Oh,  not  more  than  you  are  now,  I 
imagine,  when  the  polish  wears  a  little  thin. 
I  shall  have  nothing  said  against  that  boy, 
even  by  myself.  When  I  sank  on  the  grass, 
weeping — " 

"The  brute!"  interjected  Brandon. 

" — he  would  throw  himself  at  my  feet, 
and  promise  to  be  an  angel  did  I  but  desist, 
and  sometimes  he  was  good  for  as  much  as 


140      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

half  an  hour  after.  Indeed,  he  would  will- 
ingly have  spent  his  life  for  me,  though  he 
might  have  boxed  my  ears  before  taking  the 
fatal  plunge." 

"Nelly,  you  make  me  jealous  of  that  un- 
mannerly cub." 

Eleanor  dreamily  indicated  the  opposite 
shore  of  Rosamond's  Pond. 

"See,  over  yonder  is  our  favorite  play- 
ground, and  there  is  Brandon  Water,  and 
if  those  two  towers  of  Westminster  Abbey 
were  but  one,  it  would  be  Brandon  Church." 

"That  is  true,  now  you  point  it  out.  So, 
for  all  you  say  of  London's  fascination,  you 
come  here  because  you  are  lonely  for  Bran- 
don Park?" 

"Perhaps." 

"And  because  you  think  of  that  objec- 
tionable boy  who  threw  himself  at  your  feet 
over  yonder.  I  am  jealous  of  him,  and  filled 
with  a  loathing  for  him.  But  let  the  little 
scoundrel  go.  I  '11  say  no  more  of  him.  So 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       141 

you  come  here  every  morning  merely  to  visit 
your  own  Park?" 

"My  own  Park?  'Tis  not  mine,  but 
yours.  'T  was  yours,  and  despite  myself 
you  have  thrust  it  upon  me.  I  walk  your 
halls  and  wring  my  hands,  your  revenge  has 
been  so  complete.  If  you,  having  the  will 
in  your  possession,  had  shown  it,  and  con- 
founded me  thus,  't  would  not  have  been  so 
cruel,  but  you  waited  until  I  sent  for  it.  You 
proved  to  me  that  I  was  mean  enough  to 
use  that  testament  to  stop  the  sale.  Why 
did  you  not  throw  the  parchment  in  the 
fire?" 

"Impossible.  Brandon  Hall  was  never 
mine.  First  it  was  my  father's;  then  it  was 
yours." 

"Not  once  in  all  the  centuries  had  it 
descended  but  to  a  Brandon.  Why  was  it 
not  entailed?  I  suppose  it  seemed  impossible 
that  any  lord  of  Brandon  should  leave  it  to 
a  woman.  What  right  have  I  to  stand 


142      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

between  a  Brandon  and  his  heritage?  Take 
it,  Charles,  now;  'tis  not  too  late.  Sell  it, 
or  do  what  you  wish  with  it,  and  build  Sheri- 
dan a  dozen  theaters  if  he  needs  them." 

"Oh,  Sheridan?  He  is  in  the  way  of 
fortune.  He  expects  to-morrow  that  twenty 
thousand  pounds." 

"And  from  whom?" 

"Ah,  that  he  will  not  tell.  Sworn  to 
secrecy,  he  says,  but  I  suspect  old  Garrick." 

"Are  you  still  friendly  with  Richard 
Sheridan,  Charles?" 

"Friends  now,  and  friends  forever." 

"I  did  not  know.  It  sometimes  happens, 
I  think,  that  friendship  breaks." 

"Not  between  Dick  and  me.  Nothing 
could  come  between  us." 

"Nothing?" 

"No.  He  is  the  king  of  men.  Surely 
you  knew  that  by  merely  looking  at  him?" 

"I  never  saw  him." 

"What,  never  saw  Dick  Sheridan?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       143 

"Never;  when  he  was  at  Brandon  Hall  I 
was  sulking,  you  remember." 

"But  you  saw  him  that  day  at  the  lawyer's 
office.  He  came  there  with  me.  It  is  in- 
credible that  you  were  in  Dick  Sheridan's 
presence,  and  never  looked  at  him." 

"I  have  no  recollection  of  him." 

"Why,  it  seems  strange  that  you  two, 
brought  face  to  face,  should  profess  no 
knowledge  of  one  another,  for  not  an  hour 
since  he  said  he  had  never  seen  you." 

"How  came  you  to  be  talking  of  me?" 

"Oh,  he  remembered  Aunt  Selina,  and 
fancied  her  the  heiress,  so  I  set  him  right." 

"Did  you  mention  my  name?" 

"I  think  not;  no,  I  am  sure  not.  I  called 
you  my  cousin." 

"Since  he  does  not  dwell  in  my  mind,  will 
you  tell  me  something  of  him?" 

"Oh,  he  is  in  every  sense  a  fine  gentleman ; 
handsome,  debonnair,  courteous — " 

"Yes,  yes ;  I  Ve  heard  all  that,  but  would 


144      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

he  keep  his  word  with  a  woman  if  he  had 
promised  her?'* 

"Well,  he  kept  his  word  with  one  woman, 
and  married  her." 

"Oh,  he  's  married,  then?" 

"Very  much  so,  as  I  told  you  at  Brandon 
Hall.  He  took  the  beautiful  singer,  Miss 
Lindley,  to  be  his  wife.  She  leads  him  a 
dance,  I  think:  furiously  jealous,  and 
indeed,  Dick  himself — " 

"I  am  not  interested  in  her.  What  I  wish 
to  know  is  this.  If  Richard  Sheridan  held 
a  woman's  secret,  and  had  sworn  to  that 
woman  not  to  reveal  it,  would  he  keep  his 
word?" 

"Nelly,  why  do  you  ask  such  a  question?" 
Brandon  was  startled  into  seriousness. 

Eleanor  put  him  off,  nonchalantly. 

"Oh,  't  is  no  matter.  You  need  not 
answer  unless  you  choose." 

"Would— Dick  Sheridan— keep  faith— 
with  a  woman?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER      145 

"Yes ;  other  than  his  wife." 

"Other  than  his  wife?" 

"Oh,  I  expect  no  reply,"  laughed  Elea- 
nor. "Indeed,  you  have  replied  already. 
He  is  not  to  be  depended  on." 

"I  did  not  say  that." 

"Your  manner  says  it." 

"God's  troth,  my  manner  wrongs  him, 
then.  Sooth  to  say,  I  was  not  thinking  of 
Sheridan,  but  of  you.  Why  should  little 
Nelly,  from  the  crystal  waters  of  Brandon 
Lake,  put  such  a  question  by  the  turbid 
flood  of  Rosamond's  Pond?" 

"You  make  too  much  of  it,  Charles. 
Some  day,  mayhap,  I  will  tell  you  why  I 
ask." 

"When?" 

"Let  us  say  to-morrow,  if  you  will  do  me 
the  honor  to  call  upon  me." 

"To-morrow?  I  shall  call  upon  you  to- 
day, if  I  may." 

"No,  you  must  not.    To-morrow." 


146      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Brandon  frowned,  recalling  Sheridan's 
words. 

"  'T  is  strange  that  you  and  Sheridan 
should  both — "  he  hesitated. 

"Should  both  profess  never  to  have  seen 
one  another,  though  we  met?" 

"Yes,  that  is  strange,  also." 

"Also?    What  else  is  strange?" 

"That  if  I  had  not  been  on  this  spot  to 
meet  you,  Sheridan  would  have  occupied  my 
place." 

"Sheridan?" 

"Yes ;  he  left  here,  laughing,  when  he  saw 
you  approach." 

"Indeed,  Charlie,  I  shall  laugh  and  leave 
you  myself,  if  you  look  so  puzzled.  You  do 
not  surely  mean  to  hint  that  I  had  tryst  here 
with  a  man  I  never  saw?" 

"No,  no.     'T  is  absurd,  of  course." 

"Perhaps  Sheridan  laughed  because  he 
thought  I  kept  a  tryst  with  you?" 

"He  pretended  that." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       147 

"Pretended?  Well,  you  know  how  un- 
true it  is.  I  kept  tryst  only  with  this 
semblance  of  Brandon  Water.  What 
reason  did  Sheridan  give  for  his  presence 
here?" 

"He  said  he  was  in  search  of  me,  to  tell  of 
his  good  fortune  in  securing  the  money." 

"That  reason  seems  plausible  enough." 

"Plausible?  Yes,  that 's  the  word.  Plaus- 
ible. Plausible!  Dick  Sheridan  is  a 
plausible  man  where  women  are  concerned." 

"Am  I  a  woman  concerned?" 

"No.  For  a  moment  your  questions  and 
the  coincidences  disquieted  me." 

"Will  you  call  it  plausible  if  I  say  that  it 
is  natural  I  should  make  some  inquiry 
regarding  Mr.  Sheridan  when  you  were  on 
the  eve  of  beggaring  yourself  on  his  behalf, 
and  he  was  the  cause  of  my  falling  out  with 


you?" 


'Did  we  fall  out,  Nelly?" 

'You  were  rather  harsh  with  me,  Charlie, 


148      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

last  time  we  met,  when  you  flung  back  in  my 
face  the  wealth  you  would  so  cheerfully 
have  bestowed  upon  another.  Something 
you  said  just  now  touched  me,  and  I  pic- 
tured to  myself  you,  here  in  London,  passing 
the  house  that  should  have  been  your  own, 
had  justice  been  done,  thinking  not  of  the 
injustice,  however,  but  of  the  unworthy 
tenant.  Tell  me  truly,  Charlie,  have  you 
been  in  poverty  since  you  parted  from 
me?" 

"Only  in  that  I  feared  I  was  bankrupt  of 
your  regard." 

"Will  you  not  accept  this  legacy,  wrongly 
left  to  me?" 

"I  will  accept  nothing  but  yourself, 
Nelly,"  said  Brandon,  holding  out  his  hands. 

"I  am  speaking  seriously,  Charlie,"  Elea- 
nor rebuked  him  gently,  drawing  back. 

"So  am  I." 

"If  the  bank  of  Rosamond's  Pond  is  dis- 
astrous to  a  certain  sentiment,  as  you  have 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       149 

said,  would  it  not  be  more  auspicious  to 
postpone  such  talk  until  to-morrow?" 

"No.  Let 's  change  the  reputation  of 
Rosamond's  Pond,  and  cause  it  ever  after 
to  be  named  the  Haven  of  Prosperous 
Love." 

Eleanor  shook  her  head  just  a  little 
wearily. 

"I  am  superstitious,  Charlie,  and  tired  of 
battling  with  Fate.  I  will  tempt  it  no 
further.  It  is  not  long  until  to-morrow." 

"Oh,  to-morrow  and  to-morrow  and  to- 
morrow! I  like  better  the  shorter  word 
'to-day.' " 

"  'No'  is  a  shorter  word  than  'yes.' " 

"Ah,  Nell,  that  is  a  cruel  hint." 

"It  is  but  a  plain  statement  of  fact  to 
match  your  own.  If  'no*  mates  with  'to- 
day,' perhaps  'yes'  mates  with  'to-morrow.' 
But  now  I  must  tune  my  talk  in  unison  with 
my  surroundings,  and  so  will  tell  you  some- 
thing I  have  recently  discovered  about  my 


150      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

disastrous  love.  I  have  some  excuses  to 
make,  and  some  misapprehensions  to  clear 
away.  Charging  you  with  harshness,  I  con- 
fess I  also  was  harsh ;  yet  I  feel  no  fear  but 
that  pardon  will  be  granted  before  I  ask  it." 

"You  are  right  there,  Eleanor,  did  one  so 
sweet  and  gentle  as  you  need  pardon,  which 
I  deny." 

"This  scene  is  not  so  disastrous,  after  all, 
Charles,  when  you  accord  forgiveness  so 
courteously.  I  said  that  he  I  loved  had  died 
in  London.  I  find  it  is  not  true.  He  is 
living  still." 

"And  't  is  that  brings  you  to  London?" 

"That,  and  another  mission." 

"Have  you  seen  him?" 

"Yes." 

"Then  his  perfection  comes  into  living 
contrast  with  my  demerit?" 

"Charles,  this  is  the  misapprehension.  I 
find  myself  mistaken  in  him,  and  confess  my 
disappointment." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER      151 

"Thank  God!  I'm  human  enough  to 
delight  in  seeing  a  paragon  displaced,  even 
if  he  be  my  rival.  A  ghost  I  could  not  com- 
bat, but  I  am  afraid  of  no  living  man.  How 
far  has  this  giant  declined  in  stature?  Has 
he  descended  near  to  my  own  height?" 

"Indeed,  Charlie,  the  qualities  of  you  two 
are  so  evenly  balanced  that  I  must  ask  until 
to-morrow  to  decide  between  you,"  and 
against  her  quiet  decision  not  all  Lord 
Brandon's  pleadings  could  prevail. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  drawing  room  of  Richard  Sheri- 
dan's house  in  Orchard  Street  was 
lighted  only  by  a  flickering  fire  on  the  hearth 
and  the  moonlight  coming  in  through  an 
open  long  window  that  led  to  a  balcony  out- 
side. On  this  balcony  stood  Richard  Sheri- 
dan himself,  peering  eagerly  and  anxiously 
at  the  street  below.  Presently  he  straight- 
ened up,  turned  quickly,  and  entered  the 
room,  closing  and  curtaining  the  window 
behind  him. 

"She  comes!  I  cannot  be  mistaken!"  he 
murmured  to  himself;  then  called,  more 
loudly:  "Bates!" 

The  man  servant  responded  at  once. 

"Light  the  candles,  Bates." 

While  the  lights  were  being  placed  on 

152 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       153 

table  and  mantel-shelf,  Sheridan  crossed 
over  to  a  door  at  the  right-hand  side 
of  the  room,  opened  it,  looked  out,  then 
closed  and  locked  it  very  cautiously. 

"Bates,"  he  said,  quietly,  "I  am  expecting 
a  lady.  Show  her  in  here." 

"Yes,  sir." 

"And,  Bates,  I  am  not  at  home  to  any  one. 
That  is,  after  you  have  shown  the  lady  in. 
Even  if  the  king  calls,  I  am  not  at  home. 
You  understand,  Bates?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Tell  any  visitor  who  persists,  that  I  de- 
parted for  Bath  three  hours  ago.  Be  precise ; 
there 's  nothing  so  varnishes  a  lie  as  deft 
precision,  Bates.  Sudden  illness  of  Mrs. 
Sheridan's  father,  and  my  wife  and  I  left 
three  hours  and  ten  minutes  since.  If  one 
insists  on  entering,  on  any  pretext  whatever, 
before  that  lady  leaves,  throttle  him,  Bates, 
throttle  him." 

Bates  retired,  and   Sheridan  picked  up 


154      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

from  the  table  a  letter,    over    which    he 
pondered. 

"Can  it  be  a  hoax?"  he  said  to  himself.  "It 
comes  right  on  the  nick  of  time,  like  a  hero 
in  the  last  act. 

*  'I  thank  you  for  your  courteous 
answer,' "  he  read  again,  although  he  knew 
the  contents  of  the  letter  by  heart.  "  'I 
desire  no  security,  but  must  be  certain  of  the 
utmost  secrecy.  I  will  come  to-night  at 
eleven,  and  bring  with  me  a  draft  for  twenty 
thousand  pounds.  I  can  trust  no  inter- 
mediary, and  will  see  no  one  but  yourself. 
Thus  secrecy  will  be  preserved.' ' 

He  threw  down  the  letter,  and  paced  the 
room  excitedly,  up  and  down,  talking  and 
gesticulating. 

"Twenty  thousand  pounds,  and  Drury 
Lane  is  mine!  What  a  prospect!  Bran- 
don's promise  would  have  been  redeemed 
had  not  fate  played  him  so  scurvy  a  trick, 
raising  him  on  a  pinnacle  of  wealth,  only  to 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER      155 

fling  him  in  the  dirt,  a  pauper.  Poor 
Charlie!  Could  honesty  and  good-fellow- 
ship be  coined,  he  would  be  a  millionaire. 
But  why  does  she  not  come?  'T  is  surely 
past  the  hour.  Yet  one  must  allow  a  margin 
for  a  woman." 

No  margin,  however,  was  needed.  The 
clock  struck  the  hour,  and  before  the  eleventh 
stroke  died  away  Bates  ushered  in  a  lady 
who  was  heavily  veiled. 

"Are  you  Mr.  Sheridan?"  she  asked  at 
once. 

"Yes,  madam,"  replied  the  author,  as 
directly. 

"Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan?" 

"Yes,  madam." 

"I  know  little  of  the  customs  of  London, 
but  enough  to  be  aware  that  my  visit  to 
you  at  this  hour  is  not  in  accordance  with 
them." 

Sheridan  bowed  gallantly. 
.  "The  visits  of  an  angel  to  those  mortals 


156      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

privileged  to  receive  them,  are  opportune  at 
any  hour." 

"You  are  doubtless  accustomed  to  flat- 
tering women,"  said  the  visitor,  coldly,  "and 
are  used  to  their  appreciation  of  it.  I  know 
nothing  of  you,  sir,  and  I  am  anxious  simply 
to  complete  a  business  transaction  in  a  busi- 
ness way.  I  warn  you  at  the  beginning  that 
any  undue  gallantry  on  your  part  will 
merely  jeopardize  the  substantial  result 
which  may  be  the  outcome  of  our  interview." 

"You  speak  plainly,  madam,"  said  Sheri- 
dan, taken  aback,  "and  will  have  no  word 
from  me  that  can  offend  you." 

"I  came  here  alone,  and  at  this  hour,  that 
I  might  avoid  recognition  or  interference. 
There  is  none  who  dare  question  what  I  do, 
but  I  wish  to  give  gossips  no  chance  of 
babbling." 

Involuntarily  Sheridan  arched  his  eye- 
brows and  smiled,  but  quickly  recovered 
himself,  and  answered  politely: 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       157 

"You  are  from  the  country,  perhaps, 
madam." 

"Yes ;  but  I  have  a  town  house  from  which 
I  come  to  yours.  I  want  to  be  assured  that 
the  sum  you  have  mentioned  is  sufficient  for 
the  project  you  entertain." 

"Ample,  madam.  With  twenty  thousand 
pounds  I  can  secure  Drury  Lane.  Old 
Garrick,  who  is  rich,  and  knows  I  am  not, 
insists  on  ten  thousand  pounds  paid  out  of 
hand.  Once  Old  Drury  is  mine,  I  shall  have 
wealthy  backers,  and  the  future  becomes  a 
gold  mine  in  a  halo  of  fame.  I  will  give 
you  as  surety — " 

"I  wish  no  surety  beyond  your  word  of 
honor  that  nothing  will  ever  tempt  you  to 
reveal  by  word,  hint,  or  look,  from  whom 
this  capital  comes." 

"I  plight  my  honor,  madam." 

"If  more  money  is  needed,  you  must  give 
me  time  to  raise  it,  for  this  payment  almost 
absorbs  my  ready  store.  If  it  is  lost,  that 


158      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

should  not  trouble  you,  for  its  destruction 
will  not  impoverish  me." 

"It  shall  not  be  lost.  It  is  a  golden  key, 
to  unlock  for  us  both  undreamed-of  treas- 
ure, and  you  will  profit  from  your  generous 
investment.  I  swear  to  that." 

"I  wish  for  no  profit.  You  may  give  back 
the  key  when  you  have  unlocked  the  treasure 
house.  I  hope  your  valley  of  diamonds  will 
eclipse  that  of  the  Arabian  tale.  Here  is 
my  order  for  twenty  thousand  pounds  upon 
Sharp  &  Clipper,  my  legal  custodians,  who 
will  pay  you  the  money  to-morrow  without 
question." 

Taking  a  paper  from  her  bag,  she  laid  it 
on  the  table  before  him.  Sheridan  regarded 
it  almost  with  incredulity,  as  though  unable 
to  believe  this  evidence  of  his  good  fortune, 
and  when  he  spoke  his  emotion  was 
apparent. 

"Madam,"  he  said,  "I,  who  can  juggle 
with  words  upon  occasion,  find  them  desert 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       159 

me  at  this  juncture.  I  know  not  how  to 
thank  you  sufficiently — " 

There  came  a  sudden  and  disconcerting 
rattling  at  the  handle  of  the  locked  door; 
then  a  determined  pounding  on  the  panels. 

"Dick!  Dick!"  called  the  querulous,  sus- 
picious tones  of  Mrs.  Sheridan.  "Why  are 
you  locked  in?  What  are  you  doing?" 

"By  all  the  awkward  gods,"  muttered 
Sheridan,  "my  wife!"  Then  in  accents  of 
assumed  unconcern:  "Yes,  darling;  yes, 
darling,  in  one  moment." 

"Open,  open,  this  instant!  How  dare 
you  lock  me  out  of  my  own  house?  Open, 
I  say!" 

"Dearest,  have  patience.  An  important 
business  conference.  Just  one  more  paper 
to  sign,  darling!" 

He  turned  to  his  visitor,  speaking  now 
in  undertones.  "My  wife  is  the  best  of 
women,  but  a  trifle — ah — a  trifle — that  is, 
impulsive  and  thoughtless." 


160      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"I  understand.  I  will  leave  you,  sir. 
Good  night." 

The  beating  on  the  door  redoubled,  but 
above  that  sound  rose  Mrs.  Sheridan's  shrill 
protest. 

"I  hear  a  woman's  voice!"  she  screamed. 
"You  perjured  wretch!  Simmons,  Bates, 
break  in  this  door  for  me !" 

"Ten  thousand  furies!"  said  Sheridan, 
angrily.  "Oh,  madam,  pardon  my  confu- 
sion. I  seem  thankless,  but — good  night. 
At  a  more  fitting  moment — " 

"I  comprehend  perfectly.  Do  not  trouble 
to  attend  me.  Unlock  that  door  while  I 
escape  by  this." 

The  girl  moved  quietly  toward  the  door 
by  which  she  had  entered,  but  paused,  dis- 
mayed, as  a  new  clamor  arose,  coming  from 
that  direction.  Outside,  the  persuasive  voice 
of  Bates  assured  some  one  that  Mr.  Sheri- 
dan had  left  for  Bath  three  hours  and  more 
ago. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       161 

"Again  you  lie!"  asserted  a  man's  insist- 
ent voice.  "Attempt  to  stop  me,  and  I  '11 
run  you  through." 

"Damnation!  'T  is  Charles  Brandon," 
breathed  Sheridan,  in  despair,  and  for  the 
first  time  his  visitor  showed  signs  of 
agitation. 

"Lord  Brandon!"  she  echoed.  "I  dare 
not  meet  him.  I  must  go  the  other  way. 
What  matters  your  wife?" 

"Matters?  Good  Lord!  Madam,  I  im- 
plore you;  not  that  way.  *I  have  it  in  my 
new  play ;  let  us  hope  the  curtains  will  prove 
greater  protection  than  my  screen.  Madam, 
madam,  here!" 

He  unloosed  the  curtains  drawn  across 
the  window  recess,  and  motioned  her  hastily 
to  step  within,  then  quickly  arranged  the 
hanging  folds  to  cover  her  completely.  In 
the  passage  without  Bates  shouted  to  his  fel- 
low servants  for  assistance. 

"Help!     Help,   Simmons!     I  am  over- 


162      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

borne.  Seize  his  sword,  Simmons!  Would 
you,  sir!" 

There  followed  a  crash  as  of  a  falling 
body,  then  silence,  except  for  Mrs.  Sheri- 
dan's increased  attack  on  the  door. 

"Heaven  be  praised,  they  Ve  settled  him," 
panted  Sheridan,  thankfully,  as  he  unlocked 
the  door  to  admit  his  wife. 

"So,  sir,  you  make  an  assignation  even  in 
my  own  house !"  she  screamed. 

"Indeed,  Betty,"  said  Sheridan,  with 
attempted  jocularity,  "the  house  is  neither 
yours  nor  mine,  but  the  money  lender's." 

"You  sneering  rake,  you  think  to  cozen 
me!  I  heard  you  implore  her  till  she  fled 
like  guilt,  and  tumbled  headlong  down  the 
stair  in  her  haste.  Do  you  think  I  am 
deaf?" 

"No;  nor  dumb  either.  But  you  are  mis- 
taken. There  is  no  woman  in  the  house  but 
yourself." 

"Have  you  the  brazenness  to  say  that 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       163 

when  I  heard  her  false  whispering  accents? 
'I  dare  not/  cried  she.  I  '11  dare  the  hussy! 
Who  is  she,  Dick?" 

"My  darling,  be  calm.    I  assure  you — " 

"Yes,  practice  your  endearments  on  her, 
and  then  use  them  to  me.  Your  very  lips 
are  white  with  the  perjuries  they  utter." 

"Perjuries  are  black,  sweetheart.  You 
misjudge  me,  and  are  most  unjust." 

"You  will  not  tell  me  her  name?" 

"How  can  I,  when  there  is  no  name  to 
tell?" 

"Then  I  will  confound  you  by  your  own 
witnesses,  unless  they  are  as  steeped  in 
treachery  as  you  are."  She  rushed  to  the 
other  door,  opened  it,  and  called  loudly: 
"Bates!  Bates!" 

"My  dear,  my  dear,"  protested  Sheridan 
ineffectually,  "not  before  the  servants, 
please,"  but  even  as  he  finished  speaking  the 
man  came  in,  very  disheveled,  as  though 
fresh  from  a  severe  struggle. 


164      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Bates,  what  woman  fell  down  those 
stairs  just  now?" 

"Woman,  madam?    Woman?" 

"Woman,  madam,  woman!"  echoed  Mrs. 
Sheridan,  furiously.  "Don't  stand  staring 
there  like  a  fool,  or  I  '11  'woman,  madam,' 
you !  You  Ve  seen  a  woman  before  now,  I 
warrant,  just  as  your  master  has,  and  should 
be  able  to  recognize  one,  even  if  she  were 
a-gallop  down  the  stair.  Did  she  trip  as  she 
went  down?" 

"Trip,  madam?" 

Mrs.  Sheridan  made  a  movement  as 
though  she  would  fly  at  the  man,  but  her 
husband  intervened,  sharply. 

"Answer  your  mistress,  blockhead!" 

"But 't  was  a  man,  sir." 

"Then  say  so,  you  clod." 

"Madam,  't  was  a  man." 

"A  likely  story.  Well  are  you  prompted 
by  your  master !  Why  should  a  man  fly  like 
a  pursued  thief?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       165 

"We  threw  him  down  the  stair,  madam. 
It  took  the  three  of  us.  He  drew  on  me, 
madam." 

"The  three  of  you?  Your  master  has 
schooled  you  well.  Simmons!  Simmons!" 
she  called,  peremptorily. 

"I  '11  fetch  him,  madam,"  volunteered 
Bates. 

"Indeed,  no.  I  '11  not  have  him  primed 
what  to  say.  I  will  have  the  truth. 
Simmons!" 

"Coming,  ma'am,"  and  an  instant  later 
Simmons  appeared,  fully  as  disheveled  as 
Bates,  and  holding  his  wrist  with  great 
tenderness. 

"How  came  the  woman  to  fall  down  the 
stair?" 

"There  was  no  woman,  ma'am.  Some 
drunk  man  had  driven  in  the  door,  and  broke 
the  bolt.  Jones  and  I  ran  when  we  heard 
the  crash,  and  then  we  heard  Bates  shout. 
The  man  had  Bates  by  the  throat,  ma'am. 


166      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Then  Jones  joined  in,  and  we  got  him  out 
on  the  street,  ma'am." 

"There  you  have  it,  Elizabeth,"  said 
Sheridan  quietly.  "Order  Jones  up  and 
convince  yourself  still  further.  I  hope 
you  're  not  hurt,  Simmons." 

"It  do  sting  a  bit,  sir,"  confessed  Sim- 
mons, very  gingerly  touching  his  injured 
wrist. 

Mrs.  Sheridan  stood  bewildered,  looking 
from  one  to  the  other. 

"But  I  did  hear  a  woman's  voice,"  she 
said,  more  quietly. 

"It  was  your  imagination,  my  dear." 

"Why  was  your  door  locked?" 

"Oh,  I  heard  the  parley  on  the  stair,  and 
suspected  there  would  be  a  row.  I  did  not 
wish  you  troubled,  dear,  and  if  the  man 
broke  through,  I  did  not  want  him  to  have 
the  run  of  the  house.  That 's  all." 

"Oh,  Richard  dear,  forgive  me.  It 's  all 
my  love  of  you." 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       167 

"There 's  nothing  to  forgive,  dear.  I 
understand  exactly  how  you  felt.  But  a 
locked  door  is  the  poorest  of  evidence,  sweet- 
heart. I  must  have  peace  and  quietness  if  I 
am  to  finish  my  play.  You  know  how  I  am 
worried,  and  these  recurring  scenes,  while 
useless  in  the  drama,  disturb  one's  tran- 
quility.  Will  you  leave  me  now,  dearest, 
and  let  me  get  on  with  my  work?" 

"Surely  you  Ve  worked  enough  for  one 
day?  It  is  nearing  midnight.  Come  with 
me." 

"I  cannot  at  the  moment,  dear.  Give  me 
but  another  half-hour.  What  are  you 
standing  there  for,  Bates?  Why  don't  you 
go?" 

"If  you  please,  sir,  the  front  door  's  broke. 
What  are  we  to  do  with  it?" 

"Powers  of  darkness!  How  can  I  tell? 
If  it 's  broke,  then  it 's  there  you  ought  to  be, 
and  not  here.  Leave  me,  Betty,  for  a  few 
minutes.  I  have  writing  to  do." 


168       LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"But  you  never  write  in  the  drawing 
room,  Dick." 

"Oh,  I  write  anywhere  in  this  soothing 
house.  What,  there  still,  Bates?" 

"We  need  a  new  bolt,  sir,  and  unless  I 
have  the  money — they  will  not  trust  us,  sir." 

"Place  an  armchair  before  the  door,  and 
sleep  there.  Get  you  gone,  before  I  'm 
driven  mad.  I  have  no  money." 

Bates  and  Simmons  turned  to  go,  but 
were  suddenly  flung  aside  by  the  abrupt 
entrance  of  Lord  Brandon,  who  carried  a 
drawn  sword  in  his  hand.  He  strode  toward 
Sheridan,  his  weapon  raised  threateningly. 
Mrs.  Sheridan  shrank  back  with  a  little 
cry,  but  Brandon  heeded  no  one  but  her 
husband. 

"You  false  villain!"  he  shouted.  "Where 
is  Eleanor  Beaumont?" 

"What  do  you  mean,  Charlie?  I  know  no 
Eleanor  Beaumont." 

"You  do.    I  followed  her  to  your  door. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       169 

She  has  been  closeted  with  you  this  hour  or 
more." 

"Sir,"  said  Sheridan,  hotly,  "you  are 
drunk  to  come  brawling  thus." 

"Dog,  I  am  more  sober  than  you  are,  and 
my  blade  is  steady,  you  will  find.  Draw!" 

"This  is  rank  lunacy.  Lord  Brandon,  I 
give  you  my  word  of  honor — " 

"Your  word  of  honor!" 

"You  wrong  me,  Brandon.  My  lips  are 
sealed  by  a  sacred  promise.  Trust  me, 
Charlie,  for  old  acquaintance  sake — " 

"Trust  you!  Trust  you,  when  I  have 
seen  the  woman  I  love  enter  your  door  alone 
at  midnight?  Trust  you,  when  your  hired 
ruffians  bar  the  way  to  her  with  the  ready  lie 
that  you  have  left  London?  Trust  you, 
yes;  when  my  steel  is  through  your  false 
heart,  then  I  '11  trust  you.  Draw  your 
weapon  1" 

"Sir,  there  is  a  lady  present." 

"I  know  there  is.    Draw!" 


170      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"My  wife  is  here,  sir.  Where  is  your 
manhood,  to  paralyze  her  with  affright?" 

Mrs.  Sheridan  stood  speechless,  with  star- 
ing eyes  and  clasped  hands.  Brandon  took 
no  notice  of  her. 

"There  are  two  ladies  here.  'T  is  the 
other  I  seek." 

"Brandon,  to-morrow  I  '11  meet  you 
where  you  will.  I  command  you  to  leave  my 
house  now.  You  have  done  sufficient  harm 
already,  speaking  thus  before  a  jealous 
woman.  She  drinks  your  words,  sir,  and 
you  take  a  coward's  advantage  of  me." 

"You  say  Eleanor  Beaumont  is  not  here?" 

"I  say  I  never  saw  her." 

"You  dare  to  say  Eleanor  Beaumont  is 
not  here?  Then  whom  did  I  follow  to  your 
accursed  door?" 

"God's  patience;  how  can  I  tell  what 
woman  Charles  Brandon  follows  through 
the  darkened  streets  of  London?" 

"You  cannot;  true,  true.     No,  upright 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       171 

man,  you  cannot.  But  there  is  something 
you  can  do."  He  tapped  with  his  sword's 
point  the  letter  lying  on  the  table;  the  com- 
munication received  by  Sheridan  from  his 
unknown  correspondent,  making  the  ap- 
pointment for  this  evening's  interview. 
"Lady  Eleanor's  writing  is  on  that  sheet. 
Read  it  to  us,  if  you  dare!" 

Mrs.  Sheridan  forestalled  whatever  action 
her  distracted  husband  might  have  taken, 
and  with  a  shriek  precipitated  herself  on 
the  letter.  She  held  it  to  the  light,  and 
hysterically  read  aloud  snatches  from  its 
contents. 

*  *I  thank  you  for  your  courteous  .  .  . 
I  desire  no  security;  .  .  .  the  utmost 
secrecy  ...  I  will  come  to-night  at 
eleven  .  .  .  Eleanor  Beaumont!'  Oh, 
oh,  oh,  you  faithless  man !  Who  is  Eleanor 
Beaumont?  Who  is  Eleanor  Beaumont?" 

Quietly,  yet  with  dramatic  decision,  the 
curtains  before  the  window  parted,  and 


172      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Lady  Eleanor,  now  unveiled,  took  one  step 
forward,  allowing  the  curtains  to  close  be- 
hind her. 

"I  am  Eleanor  Beaumont,"  she  enun- 
ciated, with  deliberate  calmness. 

Lord  Brandon  and  Mrs.  Sheridan  stared 
at  the  girl  in  speechless  amazement,  the 
former  with  horror  on  his  face,  the  latter 
in  wild-eyed  alarm.  Sheridan  staggered 
against  the  wall,  groaning. 

"Now  Fate  has  done  her  worst,"  he  said, 
hopelessly.  "She  can  do  no  more.  Here  is 
a  woman  who  thinks  she  may  explain  and  be 
believed.  Could  human  folly  go  farther?" 

Slowly  Eleanor  crossed  over  to  the  side 
of  Sheridan,  and  stood  there  for  a  moment, 
looking  proudly  at  the  two  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  room.  When  she  spoke,  it  was  to 
Sheridan. 

"Richard  Sheridan,"  she  said,  gently, 
"every  art  of  fiction  you  have  tried,  first  to 
convince  a  woman,  then  to  convince  a  man. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       173 

With  the  woman  you  succeeded  for  a 
moment,  but  with  the  man,  never.  Our  sex 
is  the  more  trustful  of  the  two.  As  time 
wore  on,  I  felt  more  and  more  sorry  for  you, 
and  wondered  why  you  never  tried  truth, 
even  as  an  experiment.  Only  once  did  you 
come  near  its  outskirts,  when  you  spoke  of 
your  solemn  promise  to  me.  Now  I  have 
come  —  I  could  stand  it  no  longer  —  to  show 
you  the  irresistible  power  of  truth." 

"They  will  never  believe  you.  An  angel 
from  heaven  could  not  convince  them." 

"We  shall  see,  for  when  the  worst  is 
known,  we  need  fear  naught  that  follows." 

"The  worst?" 

"Yes;  why  not  tell  it?" 

"Eleanor,  come  home!"  pleaded  her 
cousin. 

"Lord  Brandon,  you  have  no  right  to 
command  me,  and  if  you  had,  I  should  not 
obey,  since  your  impetuousness  has  dis- 
covered my  secret." 


N* 


174      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"I  cannot  bear  this,"  said  Brandon,  with 
manifest  agitation. 

"Sir,  sheathe  your  sword  in  woman's 
company,  and  remember  that  ladies  claim 
precedence,  for  which  reason  I  address  my- 
self first  to  Mrs.  Sheridan.  Madam,  you 
think  you  have  some  right  to  this  man  be- 
cause you  married  him.  Look  you  how 
illogical  is  your  contention.  What  did  you 
bring  him?  A  pretty  face,  a  charming  voice, 
a  jealous  temper.  Turn  your  eyes  on  me. 
I  am  thought  beautiful,  my  voice  is  called 
sweet,  and  I  have  not  an  atom  of  jealousy 
in  my  nature.  I  care  not  how  often  he 
kisses  you,  for  I  am  not  exacting." 

"Oh,  oh,  oh!"  cried  Elizabeth  Sheridan. 

"Man  loves  monopoly  for  himself,  but 
likes  it  not  in  others,"  went  on  Eleanor,  un- 
perturbed. "Sooner  or  later  he  tires  of  the 
tight  rein.  Here  stands  a  man  harassed  by 
debt,  not  knowing  where  to  turn  for  money, 
mocked  by  a  luxury  not  his  own,  ready  to 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       175 

mint  his  soul  to  coin,  even  if  the  transmuta- 
tion take  place  in  a  halo  of  burning  sulphur. 
But  what,  madam,  if  the  tempter  comes,  not 
with  hoofs  and  horns,  but  as  I  come,  on 
wings  of  gold?" 

She  crossed  to  the  table,  and  took  up  the 
order  for  twenty  thousand  pounds,  display- 
ing it  before  Brandon  and  Mrs.  Sheridan. 

"Here  is  one  of  the  pinions.  Mr.  Sheri- 
dan, you  should  not  leave  incriminating 
documents  so  carelessly  about.  My  lord's 
sword  touched  my  letter,  but  left  this  much 
more  serious  evidence  unscathed.  This  is  a 
potent  paper  that  pours  into  Sheridan's 
treasury  to-morrow  twenty  thousand  pounds 
in  gold."  She  turned  to  Sheridan.  "Well 
have  you  earned  it  to-night. 

"Why  have  I  given  this  fortune  to  him? 
Listen,  madam.  For  love,  love,  love !  Love 
such  as  you  know  nothing  of,  for  it  is  a  love 
hopeless  of  marriage." 

"Terror    of    God!"    gasped     Sheridan, 


176   LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

and  had  the  other  two  observed  him,  they 
must  have  seen  that  his  amazement  was 
greater  than  their  own.  "What  are  you  say- 
ing? I  swear  I  never  saw  your  face  before !" 

"Oh,  Richard,  my  husband!"  sobbed  Mrs. 
Sheridan,  "I  never  believed  anything  against 
you  until  now." 

"No,  madam,  you  did  not,"  said  Eleanor. 
"Now  you  see  the  mighty  power  of  truth. 
Truth  convinces.  How  happy  would  you 
be,  madam,  could  you  but  recall  the  bogus 
disbelief  of  ten  short  minutes  since.  If  the 
shattered  remnant  of  your  married  bliss 
could  but  be  pieced  together  again,  how 
careful  you  would  be  of  it.  You  see  now 
what  love  of  a  man  can  do  for  a  woman." 

"How  dare  you  flaunt  your  unholy  love 
in  the  face  of  its  victim!"  cried  Lord  Bran- 
don. "Shameless  woman,  you  knew  Sheri- 
dan was  married,  for  I  told  you." 

"This  is  a  nightmare!"  exclaimed  Richard 
Sheridan,  wildly.  "Swearing  is  useless. 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER      177 

Take  back  your  money!  You  out-Beelze- 
bub an  amateur  like  me.  Love?  I  've  not 
spoken  twenty  minutes  with  you  in  all  my 
life." 

"Every  word  I  said  was  true,"  continued 
the  girl,  calmly. 

"Then  shame  should  keep  you  silent, 
madam,"  declared  Brandon,  hotly. 

"Why?  I  am  forced  to  the  utterance  of 
my  love  by  the  folly  that  surrounds  me,  and 
as  no  wedding  bells  can  chime  my  union  with 
the  man  I  love,  when  his  own  action  has  ren- 
dered all  hope  of  it  impossible — " 

"Oh,"  cried  Brandon,  "this  is  intolerable! 
My  lost  Eleanor,  come  home.  Leave  this 
place!" 

"When  all  hope  has  left  me,  why  should  I 
not  proclaim  my  love?  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  it.  It  grew  with  me,  twining  round  my 
heart  while  yet  a  child.  His  boyish  lips 
kissed  mine,  unkissed  by  others  since. 
When  he  was  torn  from  me,  when  evil  fate 


178      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

cast  us  asunder,  not  a  night  but  I  prayed  for 
him ;  not  a  day  without  his  dear  image  in  all 
my  thoughts.  At  last  the  barriers  fell,  and 
he,  a  man,  came  to  me,  a  woman.  He  was 
frivolous,  selfish,  veneered  with  the  falsity 
of  London,  and  yet  not  wholly  selfish, 
either,  for  his  first  wish  was  to  advance  his 
friend,  at  whatever  cost  to  himself.  And  I, 
who  had  almost  committed  a  crime  that  he 
might  enjoy  the  wealth  unjustly  left  to  me; 
I,  who  would  have  laid  down  my  life  for  him 
— he  had  forgotten  my  very  name!" 

"Eleanor!  Eleanor!  You  wring  my 
heart.  I  had  never  forgotten  you.  In  my 
agitation  at  meeting  you  unexpectedly,  I 
misnamed  you." 

"And  when  a  traitor  tricked  him  of  his 
rights,  and  when  he  would  not  have  them  at 
my  hand,  I  could  but  try  to  give  to  Sheridan, 
his  friend,  the  useless  gold  that  he  had 
promised.  Who  is  Eleanor  Beaumont,  you 
cried,  madam,  and  why  is  she  here?  She  is 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       179 

here  to  redeem  her  lover's  pledge  to  your 
husband,  a  husband  who  had  not  betrayed 
your  trust,  but  merely  tried  to  soothe  your 
foolish  clamor.  You  have  your  husband 
still,  but  I — I  have  lost  my  love.  When  I 
set  out  to  fulfill  Lord  Brandon's  promise, 
anxious  only  that  he  should  not  know  my 
mission,  and  thus  guess  my  love  for  him,  he 
followed  with  drawn  sword,  and  sought  to 
prove  me  viler  than  the  haunted  creatures  I 
passed  on  my  way  hither." 

Mrs.  Sheridan  had  drawn  closer  to  her 
husband,  and  now  Sheridan  slipped  his  arm 
through  hers,  whispering: 

"Come  away,  wife,  we  are  marplots  here." 

Elizabeth  hesitated,  as  though  she  would 
go  to  Eleanor,  but  her  husband  restrained 
her,  and  together  they  slipped  very  quietly 
from  the  room.  Brandon  stood  with  his 
back  against  the  door,  to  nullify  Eleanor's 
attempt  to  leave. 

"Eleanor,  is  this  true?"  he  asked. 


180      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"It  was  true.    It  is  true  no  longer." 

"When  I  thought  myself  Lord  of  Bran- 
don, I  asked  you  to  be  my  wife,  and  you 
refused.  If  you  cared  for  me,  why  would 
you  not  marry  me?" 

"What  were  you  then  in  my  eyes  ?  A  man 
surrounded  by  profligates,  who  filled  the 
halls  of  his  fathers  with  ribald  laughter. 
You  had  no  respect  for  anything  I  cher- 
ished, and  scoffed  at  all  your  father  loved. 
I  saw  you,  a  selfish  man,  bent  on  turning 
your  ancestral  home  into  what  might  be 
squandered  in  London,  a  Jew  of  the  auction 
block,  ready  to  sell  the  very  tombs  of  your 
ancestors  but  that  they  were  in  the  church- 
yard, and  beyond  your  clutch." 

"Ah,  Nelly,  scant  love  for  me  imbues 
that  harsh  estimate." 

"You  were  not  the  man  of  my  dreams,  but 
a  soulless  money  changer.  The  boy  I  loved 
was  dead ;  London  had  killed  him." 

"Was  it,  then,  solely  for  love  of  the  boy 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       181 

that  you  made  this  dangerous  journey  to 
fulfill  the  promise  of  the  man?" 

"No.  In  your  night  of  revelry  at  Bran- 
don Hall  I  got  one  brief  glimpse  of  the  man 
I  loved.  So  low  had  my  opinion  of  you 
become  that  I  thought  if  I  threatened  you 
with  the  will  you  would  compromise,  be  ter- 
rified, countermand  the  sale  you  had 
ordered,  but  retain  the  property.  When 
you  unexpectedly  flung  it  back  to  me,  I  saw 
the  man  of  my  imagination.  If  you  had 
asked  me  then,  I  would  have  married  you." 

"How  could  a  penniless  beggar  hope  to 
win  where  Croesus  had  failed?" 

"If  he  knew  the  woman,  and  truly  loved 
her,  he  would  have  ventured." 

"Nelly,  I  did  not  know  you  then,  and  do 
not  know  you  now.  I  seem  to  have  played 
hop-skip  with  my  fortune,  wrong  when 
silent,  wrong  when  I  spoke,  the  intervals 
between  holding  untouched  luck.  Nelly,  is 
it  useless  for  me  to  speak  now?" 


182      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

"Need  you  ask?  You  have  smirched  me 
until  I  cringe  within  myself.  Your  drawn 
sword  stabbed  my  love.  In  this  atmosphere, 
affection  is  strangled.  I  go  back  to  Bran- 
don, and  hope  the  sweet  breath  of  the 
country  will  cleanse  me  from  the  town  fog 
of  falsehood.  I  go  where  the  birds  sing,  and 
the  waters  murmur  truth  and  purity,  there 
to  purge  the  poison  from  my  soul.  Sir, 
stand  aside,  and  let  me  pass." 

Brandon  crossed  to  the  table,  standing 
with  his  back  against  it. 

"Madam,"  he  said,  "the  way  is  clear." 

Eleanor  did  not  at  once  take  advantage 
of  the  fact,  but  lingered,  arranging  her 
glove,  and  looking  at  it  steadfastly  while  she 
spoke. 

"You  will  not  follow  me?" 

"No."    The  reply  was  conclusively  firm. 

"It  will  be  useless  to  attempt  to  see  me." 

"I  understand  that." 

"How  could  you  think  so  ill  of  me?" 


LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER       183 

"I  was  a  fool." 

"You  must  not  come  to  Brandon  Hall." 

"Never." 

There  followed  a  longer  pause,  and  still 
Eleanor  did  not  move. 

"Will  you  not  take  half  the  income?"  she 
asked  at  last. 

"Not  a  penny." 

"You  have  treated  me  harshly." 

"I  have  paid  the  price,"  said  Lord  Bran- 
don, grimly. 

"Good  night." 

"Good  night." 

The  clock  began  to  strike  twelve,  and  the 
sound  seemed  to  arouse  Eleanor  from  her 
meditations.  She  walked  slowly  toward  the 
door,  but  Brandon  -maintained  his  rigid 
position  against  the  table. 

"A  new  day — a  new  day!"  murmured 
Eleanor  to  herself.  "A  new  day  bringing 
no — hope — to  me."  She  looked  over  her 
shoulder.  "Good-by,"  she  said,  wistfully. 


184      LADY  ELEANOR:  LAWBREAKER 

Then  Brandon  sprang  forward,  arms  out- 
stretched before  him. 

"Eleanor!"  he  cried.  "Eleanor!"  She 
whirled  round,  and  fell  into  his  embrace. 
"Eleanor,  it  is  to-morrow!" 


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